They’re not doing this voluntarily,” said Geeta Narayan, UNICEF’s representative in Haiti. “Even when they are armed with weapons, the child here is the victim.”

“Children in Haiti are trapped in a vicious cycle — recruited into the very armed groups that are fueling their desperation, and the numbers are growing,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “This unacceptable trend must be reversed by ensuring children’s safety and welfare are prioritized by all parties.”

With violence surging across Haiti, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Sunday that almost half of the gangs which control the vast majority of the capital are made up of children, and the recruitment of children has seen a 70% increase over the past year.