Amnesty criticizes Haiti over evictions from camps
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 23, 2013 9:16AM
Updated: April 23, 2013 9:16AM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An advocacy group says Haiti has violated international human rights obligations by failing to protect people who have been forced to leave impromptu camps that sprang up in the Caribbean nation after the 2010 earthquake.
Amnesty International says thousands of displaced people have been evicted from public spaces and private properties. It says people kicked out of settlements find themselves “further marginalized and driven deeper into poverty.”
The report released Tuesday also says the government of President Michel Martelly has condoned evictions led by mayors, police officers and other officials.
There were once as many as 1.5 million people living in the squalid settlements. That number has since shrunk to 320,050. Some of those people left the encampments because they were evicted.
