Port-au-Prince (AFP)

Several human rights organizations called on Friday to suspend the president of the Haitian football federation, accused of raping underage players, for the time of the investigation in order to "protect young athletes from reprisals".

"An immediate suspension of the president of the Haitian federation and any other official involved while the investigation into these serious allegations would mean that FIFA intends to protect young athletes from reprisals," said Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

"While threats have already been made, FIFA has an obvious duty to limit the ability of those responsible to intimidate or silence the accusers," added the activist in a statement released on Friday.

According to young girls cited in an investigation published at the end of April in the newspaper The Guardian, Yves-Jean Bart has raped many underage players in recent years.

The juvenile protection brigade of the Haitian judicial police has opened an investigation.

Witnesses to pressures to remain silent, alleged victims told the newspaper, on condition of anonymity, that at least two underage players allegedly aborted following rapes committed by the president of the federation in the national training center. .

"My chance to play abroad depended on sleeping with the president," a former player on the Haitian national women's team told Human Rights Watch.

"All the players, managers and staff at the center were aware of what was going on," said the young woman.

RNDDH, the main Haitian human rights organization, also recommends that Mr. Jean-Bart "step aside from the presidency of the FHF (Haitian Football Federation) so that the judicial investigation can be conducted with complete peace of mind."

Living in a vacuum since the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic in Haiti, the players and supervisors of the national football center today largely defend the president of the federation, accused of rape but who here appears as "father" .

"President Jean-Bart is like a dad to us (..) he loves and respects everyone", assured AFP Yvette Félix, 38, former captain of the national team.

Yves Jean-Bart, 73, has headed the federation for two decades. With no candidate facing him, his re-election in February to a sixth term was a formality.

Denying all of the charges against him, he filed a complaint in Paris against the French journalist co-author of the Guardian investigation.

"He defamed our country, he defiled our flag, he insulted the girls," protested the leader during a telephone interview with AFP in early May.

© 2020 AFP