The International Organization for Migration reported that 1.3 million people were internally displaced in Haiti in 2025, with approximately half of the displaced population being children — a figure that reflected the disproportionate vulnerability of children to the gang violence driving displacement and the devastating consequences of displacement for child development, education, and protection. More than 650,000 displaced children were living in conditions that fell far short of what their safety, health, and development required.
Displaced children in Haiti faced specific and severe risks beyond the general hardships of displacement. School closures among the displaced population were nearly total, with children in displacement sites often having no access to any form of formal education. Malnutrition rates among displaced children were significantly higher than the national average, reflecting the food access challenges of displacement site conditions. And the protection risks for unaccompanied and separated children were severe, with gang recruitment of children a documented concern in displacement environments.
The concentration of children among the displaced population reflected the demographics of gang violence in Haiti. Gang attacks on communities typically killed men and older boys first, leaving women, young children, and the elderly to flee. The resulting displaced population was disproportionately female and young, with specific protection needs that general humanitarian response frameworks were not always designed to address.
UNICEF called for child-specific funding within the humanitarian response, including child-friendly spaces in displacement sites, child protection monitoring, education in emergencies programming, and nutritional support targeted at children under five. They argued that the failure to specifically address the needs of children in Haiti’s displacement crisis was producing long-term human capital consequences that would constrain Haiti’s recovery for decades.