Wyclef Jean has recorded a radio ad denouncing crime and asking his fellow Haitians to work towards improving the country. According to Reuters, the ad, which was sponsored by the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, has been airing on Haitian radio stations several times a day. “If you love Wyclef, that means you love Haiti. So you should not be raping women, kidnapping people and children, because there can be no excuse for doing so,” Jean tells the people of Haiti in their native Creole dialect. “I reject these evil practices.” Haiti, often called “the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,” has been plagued with violence and crime for years, with a sharp rise in recent weeks. Reuters reports that 36 people were kidnapped for ransom in the nation’s capital of Port-Au-Prince in the month of March, and 30 in February. The former Fugees front man, who was appointed by Haitian president Rene Preval as a goodwill ambassador for the country, enjoys widespread respect and popularity in his homeland. “All kinds of Haitians, the good guys as well as the bad guys, have a lot of appreciation for Wyclef for what he represents as a Haitian,” U.N. Police spokesman Fred Blaise told Reuters. “So they would be more likely to be receptive to Wyclef’s message because they are all proud of him.”