ARTICLE - DESTRUCTION- GRACE VILLAGE

DESTRUCTIONS IN IDP CAMP "GRACE VILLAGE"
(Haiti Libre) -

Amnesty International delegates visited the Grace Village refugee camp, in the Carrefour district, in May, and received assurances from the representative of the man claiming to be the landowner of the camp, that residents would not be forcibly evicted. However, since then, more shelters have been marked for demolition, and residents continue to be threatened and harassed...

According to Amnesty International, "On the night of 11 June, Grace Village’s site manager and four local police officers armed with firearms and machetes entered the camp and destroyed at least 15 makeshift shelters. The shelters were allegedly empty and marked as such after the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) conducted a census in the camp. However, Amnesty International was informed that some residents were sleeping in some of these shelters when the attack took place. One of the shelters was occupied by a pregnant woman and a nursing woman; in another shelter, two boys were sleeping when the police officers and the site manager set out to destroy it. They were kicked by the police officers as they tried to flee. Although according to camp residents no one was forced to leave the camp, those that had their shelters destroyed on 11 June were not offered compensation or alternative accommodation.

The site manager has marked 47 additional shelters for demolition, including the shelters of camp residents that were registered during the IOM census...

Amnesty International believes this is in retaliation against camp residents and women in particular, who complained about threats, intimidation and sexual harassment from the site manager. Fourteen shelters in sector 12 of the site have been identified for relocation to another area, which is prone to flooding..."