Haiti's reporters were killed, displaced and left without a State

Dumesky Kersaint was killed in Carrefour on 16 April 2023. Ricot Jean's body was found in Saint-Marc nine days later. Paul Jean Marie was killed in Croix-des-Bouquets on 5 May. All three were journalists.[1]

By October, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was also recording the displacement of about twelve journalists from Carrefour-Feuilles as armed groups expanded their control.[1]

The individual killings had not been resolved in court, and the identity and motive of every attacker were not established. It is therefore necessary to distinguish the regional body's record from a criminal finding. What the record establishes is the pattern: reporters killed, others driven from their homes, investigations unable to produce accountability.

Press freedom is often discussed as a question of censorship. Haiti presents the condition beneath censorship: whether a reporter can reach the street, return home and remain alive long enough to publish. The IACHR called for diligent investigations, protection for those at risk and measures against the structural violence preventing the press from working.[2] Those are not separate obligations. Without an investigation, every protection plan carries an expiry date.