Haiti: 'Child abduction overshadows suffering'

Desperate: a Haitian man carries away the body of his daughter
Alistair Foster12 April 2012

Haiti's prime minister warned today that the case of 10 US missionaries charged with child abduction is diverting attention from the plight of the earthquake victims.

The group were stopped as they tried to smuggle 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, but Jean-Max Bellerive described the incident was a "distraction".

He said that more than 200,000 people had died in the earthquake and a million still needed help.

The missionaries have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy after being arrested on Friday. They deny the allegations and claim they were taking the children to an orphanage.

It has emerged that some of the youngsters' parents are alive. Mr Bellerive said: "I believe it's a distraction for the Haitian people because they are talking more now about 10 people than they are about one million people suffering in the streets."

The group's lawyer, Edwin Coq, said they were "naive" but insists their actions were not malicious. He said: "They had no idea they were violating the law. They were acting in good faith and they just wanted to help."

But he was quoted in the US press as saying: "If there is someone that the justice system must retain for some questioning, it is the leader of the group, Madame Laura." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now in diplomatic discussions with the Haiti government over the fate of the group. The case is sensitive as the US is leading the massive relief operation after the earthquake devastated the country's capital, Port-au-Prince.

"It was unfortunate, whatever their motivation, that this group of Americans took matters into their own hands," Mrs Clinton said.

The authorities will decide today whether to pursue a case against the missionaries, most of whom belong to an Idaho-based Baptist church.

Haiti says the detained Americans had no documents proving the children were orphans and no official permission to take them out of the country.

Haiti emergency appeal

Merlin is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. You can donate to the DEC Haiti appeal online at www.dec.org.uk or by calling 0370 60 60 900.

For more information about Merlin's Haiti response please go to: www.merlin.org.uk or call 020 7014 1714.

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