Organizations in Haiti denounce the trafficking of minor children at the border area with the Dominican Republic and call on the Haitian authorities to guarantee the protection of young victims and to punish those responsible.

Leronel Mortimé, representative of the Haitian Observatory on Human Trafficking, warned that the phenomenon is frequent at various border posts, especially in Belladère.

The Observatory reports that in Belladère at the beginning of August, the Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) intercepted a couple who were trying to cross the border illegally accompanied by 6 children. They had no family connection with 5 of the children and were unable to provide parental authorization of travel accompaniment.

The parents of the minors interviewed subsequently declared having paid around 100 US dollars to a smuggler, on the promise of an adoption in the Dominican Republic...

IH/ iciHaiti