From Women’s e-News

http://www.womensenews.org/story/cheers-and-jeers/100319/us-under-scrutiny-haiti-post-quake-rapes-rise

Women and chil­dren as young as 2, already trau­ma­tized by the loss of homes and loved ones in the Jan. 12 earth­quake that hit Haiti, are now falling vic­tim to rapists in the sprawl­ing tent cities that have become home to hun­dreds of thou­sands of peo­ple, the Asso­ci­ated Press reported March 16.

With no light­ing and no secu­rity, the city can become dan­ger­ous after sun­set. Sex­ual assaults are daily occur­rences in the biggest camps, aid work­ers say, and most attacks go unre­ported because of shame, social stigma and fear of reprisals from attack­ers, the Asso­ci­ated Press reported.

Rape was a sig­nif­i­cant prob­lem in Haiti even before the earth­quake and was fre­quently used as a polit­i­cal weapon in times of upheaval. But the quake has made women and girls ever more vul­ner­a­ble, as they’ve lost their homes, being forced to live in close quar­ters with strangers. Also gone are many male pro­tec­tors, with the deaths of hus­bands, broth­ers and sons.