'Kidnappers' accused of trafficking Haiti orphans
Updated on 01 February 2010
A group of Americans face a court hearing in Haiti on suspicion of child trafficking after they were arrested trying to take 33 children to an orphanage in neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Haitian authorities have held the five men and five women from the New Life Children's Refuge group since their arrest at the border crossing last Friday.
The Christian missionaries from the Idaho-based charity deny wrongdoing after authorities said they had no documents to prove they had cleared adoption for the 33 children - aged between two months and 12 years.
Police have also said there were no official papers showing the children had been made orphans by the earthquake.
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the Americans could face serious accusation.
"We did not arrest Americans, we arrested kidnappers," Bellerive said.
"We just hope that the people were acting in good faith and that they were doing what they were doing to try to help the children."
Trafficking fears
As Channel 4 News reported yesterday there are growing fears traffickers may be trying to exploit the chaos the 7.0 magnitude tremor on 12 January left behind, by "purchasing" or taking orphaned children.
Laura Silsby, a leader of the Idaho group, told CNN, "The truth ultimately is that we came here to help the children, and we know that God will reveal truth."
She earlier told Reuters the group had permission from the Dominican Republic to bring the children to an orphanage there.
The children have been taken to an orphanage in Haiti run by international aid group SOS Children's Villages.
"All these children had no papers, no passports or anything and as the children came to us they were hungry, they were thirsty and the little baby was really dehydrated," orphanage head George Willard said.
Prime Minister Bellerive told CNN yesterday that he was worried about the risk of illegal adoptions and child trafficking.
"We have already reports of a lot of [child] trafficking and even of organ trafficking," he said, while citing no specific cases.
The parents of one of the accused Americans have insisted that the arrests are a mistake.
Mel Coulter's 23-year-old daughter Charisa is one of the group.
He told US TV network NBC: "They want to bring kids out who have no home. Who have no parents. Who have no hope, and this was an attempt to give them the hope that they've lost in Haiti."
He added: "They thought they had everything documented the way they should and their paperwork was in order and they have been trying for the last week to finalise those arrangements and have run into a number of hurdles."
