Urgent Action: Human Rights Defender Fears for Safety (Haiti: UA 66.19)
May 17, 2019On April 26, two unknown men on motorbikes, presumably belonging to a local gang, circled the office of Pierre Espérance (fourth from the left in the image below), a prominent Haitian human rights defender, in Port-au-Prince. He reported that different sources advised him about recent death threats made against him and stated that the police were aware of them. Pierre Espérance received previous threats in 2018, and in 2014 when a letter containing a gun bullet was sent to the organization’s offices. We demand that the Haitian authorities provide him with effective protection according to his wishes and that authorities immediately and independently investigate these threats.