section_path: History (since 2023)/2024/Sexual violence against children
section_name: Sexual violence against children
paragraph_text: Sexual violence against children
  
  In 2024, Haiti experienced a tenfold increase in sexual violence against children, as reported by the United Nations. UNICEF spokesman James Elder said that armed groups have inflicted severe harm on children, turning their bodies into battlegrounds. Concurrently, escalating armed violence has led to the internal displacement of over half a million children, representing nearly one in eight children nationwide—a 48% rise since September.