Ransoms have surged as Haiti struggles with widespread gang violence, particularly around its capital Port-au-Prince.
Published On 29 Aug 2025
Eight people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, have been released following a kidnapping at an orphanage in Haiti.
The announcement on Friday ended nearly a month of captivity for the group, which included Irish missionary Gena Heraty, the director of a special needs programme for children and adults at the Saint-Helene orphanage.
“We warmly welcome the news that Gena and all of the Haitian nationals taken captive on [August 3], including a small child, have been released and are reported to be safe and well,” Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said in a statement posted on X.
Kidnappings and ransoms have become increasingly common in Haiti, where gang violence has surged amid overlapping political, humanitarian and security crises.
The targeted orphanage was located in the southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the United Nations estimates gangs control nearly 90 percent of the territory.
Run by the international charity Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs, the orphanage cares for more than 240 children, according to its website.
Further details of the release were not immediately available. No group claimed responsibility for the attack on the school in early August, although the area is controlled by the Viv Ansanm gang federation.
In a statement, Heraty’s family said they were “relieved beyond words”.
“We continue to hold Haiti in our hearts and hope for peace and safety for all those who are affected by the ongoing armed violence and insecurity there,” they wrote.
In April 2021, two French priests were among 10 people kidnapped by the “400 Mawozo” gang before they were released nearly three weeks later.
The gang took 17 American and Canadian missiona