Ireland’s foreign ministry has called on Haitian authorities to ensure “everything is done” to secure the release of a group of people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, taken by gunmen who stormed a local orphanage.
Simon Harris, the Irish foreign minister, spoke with his Haitian counterpart overnight, the government said in a statement, during which they agreed to stay in touch on their work to ensure the group is released, including missionary Gena Heraty who oversees the orphanage.
“It is imperative that she is released immediately,” Harris said separately on social media.
The attacks took place over the weekend when gunmen stormed the orphanage in Kenscoff, a mountainous community on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince that has been under deadly attacks by armed gangs since the start of this year.
Father Richard Frechette, who works with Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs, the international charity that runs the orphanage, said that eight people had been kidnapped, including the three-year-old boy, six staff members and Heraty, who heads special needs programs at the orphanage.
“We have not yet been able to reach a ransom agreement to free them,” he said.
“We hope for their fast and safe return,” the charity added on social media. “Our commitment to the Haitian people remains as strong as ever.”
Heraty, who has lived in Haiti since 1993, runs the orphanage, which cares for up to 270 children. She is the latest in a string foreign missionaries to become the victim of kidnapping in Haiti.
Armed gangs have in recent years targeted a number of religious, charitable and medical aid groups, including hospitals, NGOs, nuns and priests from congregations based in and around the capital, as well as foreign missionaries.
The majority of kidnapping victims are Haitian citizens who are seized and held for ransom, often picked opportunistically from the gridlocked traffic of the capital Port-au-Prince.
More than 3,100 people were killed and 336 kidnapped for ransom in the first half of this year in Haiti, according to BINUH estimates, as the number of residents displaced by the extended conflict with the powerful gangs – largely grouped behind a coalition called Viv Ansanm, or “Live Together” – nearly doubled to 1.3 million.
A recent report by the UN office in Haiti (BINUH) found the situation remained “very volatile” in Kenscoff while gangs intensified and expanded their attacks in central Haiti and the agricultural Artibonite region.
BINUH considers Kenscoff of “major strategic importance” as it overlooks the suburb of Petion-Ville, one of the capital’s last hold-outs and the site of multiple embassies, banking institutions and hotels serving as diplomatic meeting places.
Haitian authorities have repeatedly called for more resources to fight the gangs. A partially deployed and deeply under-equipped UN-backed mission kicked off over a year ago but has had little effect in slowing gangs’ advances.
