Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

IJDH Releases Major Report on Violence Against Women and Girls in Haiti

Lily — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:19:48 +0000

IJDH released a major report Tuesday, the first of its kind to focus exclusively on the crisis of rape and other violence against Haitian women and girls. The report describes the prevalence of rape in displacement camps, and the failure of the Haitian government, the United Nations, and other members of the international community to mount an effective response. The report also gives voice to the many grassroots women leaders who are fighting for their right to live free from violence.

Click here to read the report.

Click here to read the press release.

Rape a Part of Daily Life for Women in Haitian Relief Camps

Lily — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:00:04 +0000

By Gina Ulysse, Ms. Magazine

Even after the aftershocks of the devastating Jan. 12 quake subsided, women’s bodies were still trembling in Haiti. The cause, according to a new report, is the systematic, persistent (and often gang) rapes that have become part of women’s daily lives in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP).

The report, entitled Our Bodies Are Still Trembling–Haitian Women’s Fight Against Rape, and authored byMadre, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and others, is based on data gathered by two delegations of U.S. attorneys, community researchers and a women’s health specialist. The research was done in May and June of this year. Members of the delegation interviewed more than 50 women ranging, from five to 60 years of age, who were referred to the delegation by KOFAVIV and FAVILEK, two grassroots organizations that focus on gender-based violence. Leaders of these two organizations, who have documented over 230 rape cases, have been targeted in their camps for involvement with pro-democracy movements.

The report found that women and girls are particularly vulnerable in overcrowded IDP camps. Women lack privacy (they often bathe in public) and have weakened family and community structures, as many lost their support networks in the quake.

According to “Our Bodies Are Still Trembling,” most of the women “reported being raped by two or more individuals, who were unknown to them and almost always armed with guns, knives or other weapons.” The report also found that 95.7 percent of the victims suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and more than half suffered from depression.

After women were assaulted, they had little access to medical services and, when they did, there were hardly any women health care providers. The practitioners who were available often could not provide evidence of medical certification.

Women’s access to justice has been even worse. Women who reported rapes–and were already struggling with stigmatization and the psychological effects of sexual assault–were often mocked or ignored by police. In some instances, these women have had to deal with police corruption as well. Moreover, cases have not been prosecuted by the Haitian judicial system. Survivors remain vulnerable since they continue to live in the same areas of the camps where they were attacked and their rapists remain at large. Several women reported that they’ve been raped on different occasions since the quake.

Thus far, the government of Haiti’s response to this increasing crisis is practically non-existent, especially with theloss of feminist leaders who were fierce advocates for gender equality in Haiti and who had worked in the women’s ministry to address gender-based violence. Local and international officials interviewed have actually downplayed the report’s findings.

The United Nation’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Sub-Cluster’s response to rape in Haiti received a critical assessment by the delegation. The Sub-Cluster was cited in the report for failing to substantively consult with impacted groups. Specifically, “Poor women report they were not included in the post-disaster needs assessments (PDNA) … and have difficulty accessing sub-cluster activities.”

One of the Sub-Cluster’s initiatives–a referral card for survivors of sexual violence distributed throughout the camps–actually contained inaccurate information such as out-of-service phone numbers and incorrect street addresses for rape-related resources. According to the report, the UN group did not conduct any systematic tracking of rape cases, while the local grassroots organization, KOFAVIV, did. In short, it seems the same women who were victims were left to handle the situation themselves and provide their own security.

The report concludes that the current situation in Haiti is dire, especially since rapes are oftentimes unreported and the government of Haiti “fails to take the minimum steps required under international law to protect women’s rights to bodily integrity and, in some cases, to life.” The report’s authors advise donor states to work in concert with the Haitian government and take a more active role in addressing the security crisis that underscores this persistent violence. They make a number of notable recommendations to stakeholders, including the immediate provision of security and lighting in camps; inviting a UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women to visit Haiti; guaranteeing full participation of women in all phases of Haiti’s reconstruction; systematically collecting data concerning violence against women; and, finally, acting with due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish such acts.

Haiti is yet another country that historically ascribes little value to its women and girls when it comes to acknowledging and prosecuting gender-based violence. Thus it not surprising that women have no faith in the justice system, as they are only too aware of their value to the state. It is quite telling that, according to the report, some women in Haiti prefer the term victim as opposed to survivor. Their bodies remain the scenes of crimes that we must not allow to go unpunished.

Photo from Flickr user UNICEF Sverige under Creative Commons 2.0.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/07/28/rape-a-part-of-daily-life-for-women-in-haitian-relief-camps/

Rape in Haiti: Report Released on Violence Against Women and Girls in Haiti

Lily — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:28:22 +0000

Download (PDF, 96.22KB)

For Immediate Release
July 27, 2010

Contact:
Blaine Bookey, Esq., Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
blaine@ijdh.org, 415–515-8956

Rape in Haiti:
Human Rights Groups Release Comprehensive Report on Violence Against Women and Girls in Post-Earthquake Haiti

July 27, 2010; Port-au-Prince, Haiti — More than six months after Port-au-Prince was leveled by the January 12 earthquake, hundreds of thousands of displaced women and girls live in fear of rape in tent cities that lack lighting, privacy and security. Today, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) along with partners MADRE, TransAfrica Forum, and the law schools of the University of Minnesota and the University of Virginia released “Our Bodies are Still Trembling: Haitian Women’s Fight Against Rape,” the first report of its kind to focus exclusively on the crisis of violence against Haitian women and girls that has emerged in the aftermath of the earthquake. The report is the product of a fact-finding delegation to Haiti in May coordinated by IJDH’s Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN).

Blaine Bookey, Esq., staff attorney with IJDH and coordinator of the LERN delegation on rape and gender-based violence, returned to Haiti this week to continue advocacy efforts for Haitian women’s right to live free from violence. Bookey is working in close collaboration with women’s grassroots groups, and continues to conduct fact-finding interviews and gather evidence in preparation for filing litigation on behalf of assault victims. She said today, “The findings presented in this report illustrate the crisis of rapes in the camps and the failure of the government of Haiti, the United Nations, and others in the international community to adequately address the problem. The report aims to help these groups implement a more effective response so that these crimes against women will not go unpunished.”

The report released today contains the most detailed and up-to-date information available on the issue of gender-based violence in Haiti, and concrete recommendations for an improved response to the crisis. It tracks the high incidence and prevalence of rape in the camps, the lack of an adequate government or international response, and the courageous work done by grassroots women’s groups to address these threats. The findings from this report will be presented to to Haitian government officials, the United Nations and other humanitarian actors, and to donor states including members of U.S. Congress.

Lisa Davis, Human Rights Advocacy Director at IJDH’s partner organization MADRE, said today, “Our partners in Haiti have been tirelessly working, not only to provide urgent care for women who have been raped in the camps, but to forcefully demand that addressing this threat be a priority in disaster response policies. Together, our international human rights advocacy has kept this issue from being swept away and ignored.”

For additional information on IJDH’s work to support Haitian women in their efforts to prevent rape, please visit the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project website.

About the Organizations:
The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) fights for human rights and justice in Haiti and for fair treatment of Haitians in the U.S.

MADRE works to advance women’s human rights by meeting immediate needs and building lasting solutions for communities in crisis.

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IJDH Board Members Paul Farmer and Ira Kurzban Testify to the U.S. Congress

Lily — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:32:29 +0000

IJDH Board Chair Ira Kurzban, Esq. and Board Member Paul Farmer, MD will speak Tuesday before the Congressional Black Caucus as part of the event “Focus on Haiti: The Road to Recovery — Six Month Review.” The event is sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus with the support of the Haiti Advocacy Working Group, of which IJDH is a part. Topics to be covered include education, Haiti’s upcoming elections, violence against Haitian women and girls, and immigration policy toward Haitians.