Haitian party challenges UN allegations against leader
Key Points(5)
- The Pitit Dessalin political party has written to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seeking clarification and evidence for allegations against its leader, former Senator Moïse Jean-Charles, in a report on Haiti.
- The party is challenging claims in the final report of the UN Panel of Experts on Haiti that Jean-Charles runs and influences an illicit network linked to the country’s lucrative glass eel trade.
- The Provisional Electoral Council has approved Pitit Dessalin, along with the Organization du Peuple en Lutte (OPL) and Ayiti An Aksyon (AAA), to contest the Dec.
- The panel’s 94-page report, covering developments through July 2026, alleges that Jean-Charles’ network influences the issuance of export permits, customs oversight, harvesting and commercialization, connecting the operations to wider smuggling networks across the Caribbean.
- However, Pitit Dessalin argued that the glass eel trade, known locally as zangi , is not inherently illegal and that the Ministry of Agriculture issues certificates to exporters who meet the applicable requirements.
The Pitit Dessalin political party has written to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seeking clarification and evidence for allegations against its leader, former Senator Moïse Jean-Charles, in a report on Haiti.
The party is challenging claims in the final report of the UN Panel of Experts on Haiti that Jean-Charles runs and influences an illicit network linked to the country’s lucrative glass eel trade.
The Provisional Electoral Council has approved Pitit Dessalin, along with the Organization du Peuple en Lutte (OPL) and Ayiti An Aksyon (AAA), to contest the Dec. 13 elections.
The panel’s 94-page report, covering developments through July 2026, alleges that Jean-Charles’ network influences the issuance of export permits, customs oversight, harvesting and commercialization, connecting the operations to wider smuggling networks across the Caribbean.
However, Pitit Dessalin argued that the glass eel trade, known locally as zangi, is not inherently illegal and that the Ministry of Agriculture issues certificates to exporters who meet the applicable requirements.
“It is therefore important to distinguish between legally authorized commercial activity and any potential infractions that might occur within this sector. Moïse Jean-Charles maintains that he does not engage in any commercial activity in this field,” the party said.
Pitit Dessalin called for the allegations against its leader to be supported by verifiable evidence.
The party “specifically requests that the allegations targeting Moïse Jean-Charles be substantiated by precise, verifiable, and sufficiently corroborated evidence,” it said.
“In the absence of such evidence establishing the alleged personal link to the control of the glass eel sector, the Party requests that his name be removed from the relevant passages.”
The party said it was leaving the matter to the appropriate UN bodies to clarify, while reserving the right to pursue action before national and international bodies to defend its reputation and the rights of its members.
The panel’s report, issued on Sept. 8, also examined the security situation in Haiti, including the activities of armed gangs and their alleged connections to political, economic and security figures.
It said security operations since December 2025 had halted gang expansion in Port-au-Prince and cleared parts of the capital. However, the report also documented violent divisions within the Viv Ansanm alliance, a new wave of attacks in the lower Artibonite region and gang consolidation in the Centre department, with their reach extending into the South-East.
Between October 2025 and April 2026, at least 3,165 people were killed and 1,551 injured, according to the report.
The panel also reported continued violations of the arms embargo, record seizures of cocaine and cannabis, and limited progress in freezing assets under the sanctions regime.
