Haiti: Human Rights Watch calls for urgent FIFA action

The Human Rights Watch organization called for FIFA to ban Yves Jean-Bart, Haitian Football Federation president permanently.

The statement came after the reports of ongoing sexual abuse in the Haitian Football Federation.

The statement came after a report which claimed that Jean-Bart was visiting young academy players in the middle of the night, even when he was suspended from all football activities in May by FIFA.

The organization said that they interviewed numerous survivors and witnesses since May 2020.

They found evidence of serious and systemic human rights abuses in Haitian football, including passport confiscation, grooming child athletes for sexual exploitation, labour rights abuses, and threats to kill survivors and witnesses.

An investigation into the allegations against Jean-Bart by FIFA reached a conclusion on October 15.

The outcome of the investigation would be decided by the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA, with Human Right Watch calling for a lifetime ban for the alleged conspirators and Jean-Bart.

Jean-Bart has publicly denied all allegations against him.