US urges UN Security Council boost Haiti support as gangs recruit more children

By Sarah Morland and Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS/MEXICO CITY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The United States and Panama launched a push on Thursday for the U.N. Security Council to establish a force to suppress powerful armed gangs in Haiti, which a top U.N. official said are now estimated to be 50% made up of children.

The Security Council authorized an initial force in October 2023 and it partially deployed in June last year, but the largely Kenyan force has struggled with lack of resources and manpower, and made little headway in helping national police hold off territorial gains made by gangs, which now control most of the capital Port-au-Prince.

Acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea said the U.S. and Panama would propose a draft resolution to establish a "gang suppression force" and create a U.N. Support Office to provide logistical ground support to the force in Haiti and to "properly and sustainably resource this effort."

"This will ensure the mission has the tools at its disposal to take the fight to the gangs," she told the council. "The next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure and complement the Haitian National Police."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had suggested the establishment of a support office earlier this year. The number of Haitians internally displaced by the conflict, meanwhile, has swelled to around 1.3 million.

Guterres on Thursday called for stronger material support including more vigorous enforcement of an arms embargo on Haiti's gangs. The U.N. estimates most guns held by the armed groups are trafficked from Florida.

It was not immediately clear how the proposed resolution would align with the existing U.N.-backed force in Haiti, which counts under 1,000 troops according to recent estimates - less than half the level it had hoped to mobilize.

The proposal follows an effort last year to convert the Kenyan-led mission into a formal U.N. peacekeeping force to bolster its resources, which was opposed by Russia and China.

A representative for the Caribbean Community, which met in Jamaica last month, expressed support for the draft resolution, noting the situation would clearly continue to deteriorate unless action was taken.

MORE CHILDREN FORCED INTO COMBAT

The United Nations children's agency chief told the council there had been a 700% increase in gangs' recruitment and use of children in the first three months of 2025, compared with the same period of last year.

"We estimate that children currently account for a staggering 50% of the members of the armed groups active today," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.

"Children are being forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations. Others are being used as couriers, lookouts, porters to carry weapons, or are exploited for domestic labor."

The U.N.'s 2025 humanitarian response plan for Haiti remains its least-funded worldwide, and its children's agency warned earlier this year that U.S. aid cuts were having a severe impact on child education and malnutrition programs, while many schools around the capital have been converted into makeshift displacement camps.

As people continue to be displaced by the conflict and food insecurity spirals, Haiti's government has looked for support from Erik Prince's private security firm Vectus, which began operating in Haiti in March and has deployed mainly drones.

Haiti's transitional government is mandated to hand over power to a democratically elected successor by next February, but analysts have warned that holding a vote without established security risks legitimizing the armed gangs.