[....] The students are among some 400 children and teachers at two schools in the Grand Rue area who became trapped after armed gangs began fighting around 1 p.m. Friday. Unable to leave and with their parents unable to get to them, the students were forced to spend the night at the schools.

Early Saturday morning, about 200 male students were able to evacuate, “with a lot of risk,” by passing through a market, Sister Mickerlyne Cadet told the Miami Herald. But some 115 students at the École Marie Auxiliatrice where she is the director, were still trapped as of late Saturday afternoon, Cadet said. The trapped students, mostly girls, are between the ages of 6 and 15, she said.

“They cannot leave, it’s very risky,” Cadet said.

Haiti’s Ministry of Education and UNICEF, the U.N.’s child welfare agency, were both closely monitoring the situation, and trying to secure the children’s release, said Bruno Maes, UNICEF’s representative in Haiti.

“The areas surrounding the schools have turned into battlegrounds between armed groups. Stuck there since yesterday, these young children face the risk of spending another night without access to food or water,” Maes said. “It’s essential to acknowledge the immense pain experienced by parents and the fear that grips the children in the current situation.”

For months now, Haiti has been seeing an upsurge in gang violence that late Friday had intensified and spread to several Port-au-Prince neighborhoods. Automatic gunfire was reported in the areas of LaSaline and Wharf Jérémie in Cité Soleil, and in Delmas 2, 3 and 6 neighborhoods. A gang leader known as Mesidieu, who ruled the nearby Fort Dimanche neighborhood, was reportedly killed in the clash.

Maes said the ongoing violence “is a poignant reminder of the persistent violation of children’s rights due to ongoing armed violence.” [....]

Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross @ICRC