After a long investigation into a human trafficking network in Haiti and a key information last week that young girls were going to be sold by a network of human traffickers, the Port-au-Prince Public Prosecutor's Office launched on Sunday afternoon, a joint operation involving the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ), the National Police of Haiti (PNH) assisted by United Nations police officers (UNPol), the Brigade of Protection of Minors in the presence of Me Myrlande Prévost Dupiche, Deputy of the Government Commissioner to the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Port-au-Prince.

This important operation, which took place at the Kaliko Beach Club on the Arcadin Coast, about 60 km from Port-au-Prince, enabled PNH to save from the clutches of traffickers, 33 young girls, including 20 minors, some as young as 13 years old, about to be sold for a few hundred dollars, according to preliminary information released by the court. 12 suspected traffickers were arrested on the spot by the police.

"We found 33 girls, 20 of them minors, locked up in one room and another, there were 12 adults: 4 women and 8 men [...]" In the room occupied by the traffickers, the police seized bags of drugs, alcohol, a certain amount of money in Gourdes and US dollars, a computer whose hard disk contains videos of child pornography [...] which tends to prove that these individuals were accustomed to this kind of exploitation," explained Danton Léger, the Port-au-Prince government commissioner, very proud of this dragnet, refusing to provide further details on the number of traffickers involved or other arrests, because the investigation is still ongoing.

According to initial testimonies gathered by the police, the girls had been brought to this place under the promise of a beautiful sea feast. "There is no doubt that these individuals are suspected of trafficking of minors and sexual exploitation," affirmed Inspector Garry Desrosiers, Deputy spokesperson of the PNH, pointing out that the 20 young minors were handed over to the Minors' Protection Brigade while waiting to contact their parents.

Recall that these traffickers since the passing of a law in the summer of 2015, are liable in Haiti, a prison sentence of 7 to 15 years and a maximum fine of 1,500,000 Gourdes ie +/- 22,000 US dollars...

Note that Haiti is still on the blacklist of the US State Department of Trafficking Countries, alongside Suriname, Burma, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Download the legislation on human trafficking in Haiti : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/Loi-sur-la-traite-des-personnes.pdf

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17376-haiti-flash-historic-judgment.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15940-haiti-politic-inauguration-of-members-of-the-committee-against-human-trafficking.html

SL/ HaitiLibre