Response to Guardian article May 1st, 2020

May 1, 2020

Lespwa Lavi response to The Guardian article “Haiti FA president accused of sexually abusing young female footballers.”

Today Lespwa Lavi was surprised and deeply disturbed by the accusations of sexual abuse made against Yves Jean-Bart, the president of the Federation Haitienne De Football (FHF).  We take these allegations very seriously and encourage FHF and FIFA to investigate these accusations thoroughly and quickly. 

Lespwa Lavi trains multiple young women’s teams in Verrettes.  We have not sent any players to the Centre named in the article, but it is where our founder, Ricardo Pierre-Louis grew up, 20 years ago.  We are actively pursuing the creation of Lespwa Lavi Academy, which will continue to provide high level training in Verrettes, and is supported by FIFA.  We remain committed to the safety and respect of all our young athletes.

Lespwa Lavi has a zero tolerance policy for sexual misconduct. 

Link to the Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/30/haiti-fa-president-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-female-footballers