The United Nations children's fund has condemned the recent kidnapping of children in Haiti and the climate of fear the crimes have created.

UNICEF released a statement Friday that no child should feel fear, and said that kidnappings are grave violations of children's rights.

The agency's representative in Haiti, Adriano Gonzalez-Regueral, says it is clear the children, who were seized in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, are directly targeted.

UNICEF is calling on the Haitian government to do everything legally possible to protect children.

At least seven children were seized last week. The incidents are part of a growing number of kidnappings and gang violence in the country, after a lull following President Rene Preval's election early this year.