Youngsters in Haiti need aid and face ‘staggering levels’ of gender violence

People displaced by gang violence stand in Jean-Kere Almicar’s front yard, where they have sought refuge, in Port-au-Prince (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Almost half the Haitian population – 2.2 million adults and three million children – need humanitarian aid and thousands of youngsters face “staggering levels” of gender-based violence, the head of the UN children’s agency has said.

“Haitians and our team, they’re telling me it’s never been worse than it is now — unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, grinding poverty, a crippled economy, resurgence of cholera and a massive insecurity that creates a deadly downward spiral of violence,” said Catherine Russell, the executive director of Unicef.