Emergency Conditions

UNICEF is warning that schools in Haiti are increasingly at the mercy of gangs, with children becoming targets of robbery or ransom. The agency said Tuesday at least seven schools in the capital of Port-au-Prince have been forced to pay unidentified gangs in exchange for security in the past two months and that additional institutions have also been threatened. The warning comes days after authorities said gang members killed a university professor they had recently abducted . In addition, U.S. and Haitian authorities are still trying to secure the release of 17 missionaries from a U.S. religious organization who were kidnapped on October 16 near the capitol.