The kidnapping of Irish woman Gena Heraty along with seven others from an orphanage in Haiti last weekend comes against the backdrop of a rise in violence, kidnappings and exploitation in a country falling further into gang control.
The UN estimates 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince is controlled by organised criminal groups.
This expansion of gang activity in the country of nearly 12 million people has seen the state's capacity to govern rapidly shrink.
Here, Ken Donnelly examines the current situation in Haiti and recalls Gena Heraty’s outlook on the Caribbean nation in her own words.
At 1am on 7 July 2021, a group of 28 gunmen stormed the presidential palace in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
Haiti has not had a president in the more than four years since.
While gang violence has been a constant presence for decades, the killing of Mr Moïse left a power vacuum which has allowed criminal groups to gain a further stronghold across the country.
The unelected Transitional Presidential Council, which has run the country in the intervening years, has struggled to maintain control with much of the country now run by paramilitary groups and vigilantes.
The Viv Ansanm group, formed in recent years as a coalition of the main gang factions in the capital, has repeatedly tried to overthrow the government and has launched consistent attacks.
In the first six months of this year, 3,137 people have been killed in armed violence in Haiti.
A UN report on violence in Haiti earlier this year outlined how gang members continued to resort to murders, gang rapes and kidnappings to maintain their control over populations living in areas under their influence.
Cases of sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, child trafficking and exploitation were also documented in the report.
Gang activities have also restricted access to basic services including health care and education while hundreds of buildings, including a hospital and three schools, have been ransacked, vandalised or burned by gangs in the first quarter of this year.
The UN report also described an increasingly violent environment in which many children lack role models and perceive gang members as examples of social and economic success in their neighbourhoods.
"There are more kidnappings in Haiti than anywhere else in the world at the moment."
As of 30 June, more than 1.3m people in Haiti were displaced, an increase of 85% since September 2024.
It is against this background of armed violence, humanitarian crisis and political instability that the kidnapping of Irish woman Gena Heraty must be understood.
Ms Heraty was abducted along with seven others and a child from an orphanage in the Kenscoff area of Haiti last weekend.
Efforts are ongoing to secure the release of all those kidnapped.
In the first half of the year alone, at least 346 people have been kidnapped in Haiti, with 1,494 people kidnapped last year.
These figures are likely to be underestimations as many families of kidnapping victims choose not to report them to police and opt to negotiate directly with kidnappers.
"There are more kidnappings in Haiti than anywhere else in the world at the moment."
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Those were the words of Ms Heraty herself, speaking in June 2023 to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ radio.
Just ten days ago, five UNICEF employees were released after being held by a gang for three weeks.
Kenscoff - a site of increased violence
A native of Carrowrevagh near Westport in Co Mayo, Ms Heraty oversees the Sainte-Hélène orphanage in the commune of Kenscoff, about 10km southeast of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Since the start of this year, Kenscoff has found itself in the crosshairs of the Viv Ansanm gang, which has already taken control of several other localities.
The UN has noted a specific targeting of Kenscoff this year with at least 262 people having been killed there in attacks between January and March.
The UN said gang members displayed "extreme brutality, aiming to instill fear within the population".
I think if I was a worrier I wouldn't be able to do what I do every day. I wouldn’t get in the car."
"They executed men, women, and children inside their homes and shot others on roads and paths as they tried to flee the violence, including an infant.
"Sexual violence was also committed against at least seven women and young girls during the planning and execution of the attacks," the UN said in a flash report on violence in Kenscoff.
Speaking in June 2023, Ms Heraty said she did not worry about her own safety, despite the immense danger faced every day.
"Everybody is pretty much traumatised, because you don't know when you get in your car in the morning that you are going to make it to work safely.
"We know lots of people that have been kidnapped, we know people that have been shot, we know people that have had guns pulled on them, we know people who have been kidnapped, and they haven't come back.
"I worry about the people that I work with. Do I worry about myself? No.
"That's not to say I think nothing will happen to me. I think if I was a worrier I wouldn't be able to do what I do every day. I wouldn't get in the car."
Ms Heraty recalled a situation where a local bus was stopped by gang members who boarded the bus, emptied a bag of sweet potatoes that one woman had in her possession and trampled on them.
The woman complained to the gang members, asking how she would feed her kids.
The gang members then shot the woman dead on the bus.
"That was awful, it was terrible, but the sad thing is that there are so many people being killed.
"There are more people being killed in Haiti than in Ukraine," Ms Heraty said.
Organisations continue to fight for 'a just Haiti'
Ms Heraty dedicates herself to the care of children with disabilities who have been abandoned, and works at a facility operated by the humanitarian organisation Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs (NPH).
Throughout her conversation with Miriam O'Callaghan, Ms Heraty was keen to shift the focus away from her and towards the plight of those she cares for and works with.
"These children had been abandoned, typically in hospitals, because in Haiti there are no services, there is no social welfare.
"You have to try and imagine somebody with a child with severe disabilities, they don't have access to healthcare, they don't have access to wheelchairs.
"They are abandoned not because the parents don't care about them, but because they don't have the resources.
"My basic rule of thumb was if I was in the place of this child, what would I want?"
Ms Heraty said that her and her team would take precautions and would avoid places which have had reports of shootings.
The majority of kidnappings in Haiti occur on roads, boats or at victims' homes.
It is common for gangs to stop public transport vehicles and abduct those onboard.
Ms Heraty said while she could choose to work from her home, she worried specifically about staff that are on the road every single day.
"I don't consider myself a saint, I consider myself very lucky because I have found something in life that I absolutely love, and the positive side of it also is that I am actually doing some good."
"Several of them have been held up, guns put to them, and they are traumatised. I am not one to exaggerate, but they are traumatised."
People being kidnapped from their place of work is less common.
However, this is precisely what happened to Ms Heraty last week.
Members of a gang entered the Sainte-Hélène orphanage located in Tèt Bwa-Pen in Obleon in Kenscoff at 3am on the morning of 3 August.
They abducted eight people including Ms Heraty and a three-year-old child in what the NPH described as a "heinous" act.
In response to the kidnapping, staff at hospitals run by NPH and a separate organisation, the St Luke Foundation, announced they would be closing all of their institutions across Haiti until the kidnapped individuals are freed unconditionally.
"We say NO to impunity, NO to indifference, NO to the banalisation of terror.
"We will not back down. We will continue to fight for a just Haiti, where there is respect for human dignity and life," the organisations said in a statement.
It is clear from her previous statements and testimonies from friends and family that Ms Heraty is equally committed to the cause of justice and progress in Haiti, despite the wave of violence and political instability.
"When I'm getting ready to go back to Haiti I'll be as excited as I was the first day. Because I love what I'm doing, I love the children, I love the people I work with," Ms Heraty said, speaking at the end of her interview with Miriam O'Callaghan.
"If you are lucky in life you find something that you enjoy doing.
"I don't consider myself a saint, I consider myself very lucky because I have found something in life that I absolutely love, and the positive side of it also is that I am actually doing some good.
"What's nicer than seeing things progress? It's beautiful.
"Yes, I’m in danger from time to time, and compared to Ireland yes.
"But compared to the men and the women that I'm working with. Can you imagine having a child with severe disabilities in the middle of all of that?
"They're the ones that give me inspiration. I'm not going to get discouraged when I'm living with people like that."
