Maria Caspani, Brad Brooks

NEW YORK (Reuters] – The Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries evacuated its American employees for nine months due to unrest in the United States. However, they returned the staff last year. According to the 2020 annual report of the group.

A growing concern has been highlighted by the kidnappings of 17 missionaries this weekend.

Control Risks, a risk consulting firm based in London with clients in Haiti said Monday in an email that its main concern had been political stability amid anti-government protests.

According to the company, it works with nonprofits around the world and is now focused on “now, we’re focused on giving a better understanding about the increased power and extremely volatile political climate.”

According to the report of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Haiti, kidnappings are more frequent in these recent months due to growing political and economic crises.

Without releasing numbers Control Risks stated that kidnappings occurred in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. This is in contrast to other metropolitan areas across the Americas like Sao Paulo or Mexico City. According to Control Risks, nine out of ten such kidnappings in Haiti take place within the Port-au-Prince metro area.

Control Risks indicated that Haiti was, per capita, the country most severely affected by the crisis.

Most victims come from the middle class of Haiti. Haitians protested the kidnappings by staging a national general strike Monday.

PRECAUTIOUS SITUATION

Hope for Haiti is a non-profit that works in Haiti’s southern region to increase infrastructure and education. It suspended staff travel from the capital a year ago. CEO Skyler Badenoch said this in a telephone interview. Hope for Haiti has over 100 employees in Haiti at the moment, with its U.S. headquarters located in Florida.

Badenoch said that he was surprised to hear there were 17 missionaries driving around Port-au-Prince in a bus.

Reuters reached out to CAM for comments but they did not reply. According to the group, civil authorities in Haiti as well as the United States offered assistance after the kidnapping.

“While we wish for the safe release and transformation of our workers,” CAM said.

According to reports by missionaries from other countries, one Canadian man and 16 Americans were in CAM’s bus when it was hijacked outside Port-au-Prince.

According to its annual reports, CAM has a large amount of work in Haiti in La Source (west of capital) and Titanyen (northern outskirts Port-au-Prince). The organization’s Haitian work includes the operation of clinics, providing employment and supporting orphans.

It was discovered that a Christian Group employee had molested children in Haiti while working for it. This revelation, which CAM managers knew for many years.

In a statement issued in May 2020, CAM stated that it had resolved out of court a civil lawsuit brought against the group from Haiti.

Haiti’s already fragile security situation was made worse by the assassination in July of President Jovenel Moise. The U.S. State Department issued an August “do-not travel” advisory to Haiti.

A number of migrants from the troubled long-term country arrived at U.S. Mexico border last month to face a wave of deportations.