Haiti's Center for Human Rights Analysis and Research (CARDH) is provisionally suspending its work due to imminent danger to its staff, its executive director said on Thursday, as gang wars escalate in parts of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Gedeon Jean, who heads the 16-person operation, said a co-worker who had been kidnapped on October 29 and freed on November 17 had warned that the group that kidnapped him was targeting the organization, whose work was "disturbing" certain sectors.
CARDH has published reports on the living conditions of people displaced by the gang wars, suspected gang members being lynched by vigilante "Bwa Kale" groups, killings of police officers, and assessments of foreign sanctions.
This year through September, CARDH counted 901 kidnappings, as well as 1,564 murders, and a rise in mass kidnappings in the Bas-Artibonite region north of the capital, which it warned could become a major gang hub if measures are not taken.
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