Rape Account­abil­ity and Pre­ven­tion Project (RAPP)

IJDH Reports | Press Releases | Inter-American Com­mis­sion Lit­i­ga­tion 

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Overview

IJDH and BAI have joined with grass­roots groups in Haiti and inter­na­tional part­ners to launch the Haiti Rape Account­abil­ity and Pre­ven­tion Project (RAPP) to respond to the epi­demic of rapes against poor women and girls in Haiti in the wake of the Jan­u­ary 12, 2010 earth­quake. RAPP pro­vides indi­vid­ual vic­tims of sex­ual assault the legal ser­vices they need to obtain jus­tice and com­pen­sa­tion, while work­ing with allies in Haiti and abroad to trans­form the social con­text that under­lies the vul­ner­a­bil­ity of all poor Hait­ian women to assault. The Project also aims to deter future rape by pun­ish­ing the per­pe­tra­tors and forc­ing a more effec­tive response by law enforce­ment and the jus­tice system.

RAPP is build­ing on the BAI’s 15 years’ expe­ri­ence help­ing poor women and other mar­gin­al­ized groups enforce their human rights to imple­ment a com­pre­hen­sive response to the rapes. The BAI and IJDH will play a coor­di­nat­ing role and lead the legal activ­i­ties, but RAPP as a whole will be a wide col­lab­o­ra­tion assem­bling the respec­tive tal­ents of Hait­ian grass­roots groups, inter­na­tional advo­cates and health and legal pro­fes­sion­als. RAPP includes four closely inte­grated com­po­nents: legal advo­cacy, health­care, orga­niz­ing, and pub­lic advocacy.

IJDH Reports

• CHRGJ and GJC study sug­gests alarm­ing lev­els of sex­ual vio­lence in Haiti linked to lack of basic resources ( NYU Law, law.nyu.edu) — Jan­u­ary 23, 2012
• State­ment Sub­mit­ted to the UN Com­mis­sion on the Sta­tus of Women for the 56th Ses­sion Con­cern­ing the Empow­er­ment of Rural Women and Their Role in Poverty and Hunger Erad­i­ca­tion, Devel­op­ment and Cur­rent Chal­lenges in Haiti (BAI, MADRE, KOFAVIV, CGRS, SOFA Bureau of Abri­cots, ESCDROJ, IGLHRC) — Novem­ber 29, 2011
• “Nobody Remem­bers Us” (Human Rights Watch) — August 19, 2011
• Sum­mary Sub­mis­sion to the UN Uni­ver­sal Peri­odic Review of Haiti (IJDH-BAI, Lawyers’ Earth­quake Response Net­work) — March 24, 2011
• “Our Bod­ies Are Still Trem­bling”: Hait­ian Women Con­tinue to Fight Against Rape (IJDH) — Jan­u­ary 10, 2011
• Request for Pre­cau­tion­ary Mea­sures to the Inter-American Com­mis­sion on Human Rights (Eng­lish and French) — Octo­ber 21, 2010
• Let­ter to Nigel Fisher, Deputy Spe­cial Rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the UN Secretary-General — August 9, 2010
• Our Bod­ies Are Still Trem­bling: Hait­ian Women’s Fight Against Rape (IJDH) — July 27, 2010
• Chal­lenges Fac­ing Haiti’s Jus­tice Sec­tor: Pre­pared for Con­gres­sional Brief­ing (IJDH) — July 13, 2010
• Vio­lence Against Women in Haiti: Pre­pared for Con­gres­sional Brief­ing (IJDH) — July 13, 2010
• UN Human Rights Coun­cil Res­o­lu­tion: Accel­er­at­ing efforts to elim­i­nate all forms of vio­lence against women: ensur­ing due dili­gence in pre­ven­tion (UN) — June 15, 2010
• Video: Tes­ti­mony on Gender-Based Vio­lence in Haiti by Malya Villard-Apollon Before the UN Human Rights Coun­cil (Eng­lish and French) — June 7, 2010
• Text: Tes­ti­mony on Gender-Based Vio­lence in Haiti by Malya Villard-Apollon Before the UN Human Rights Coun­cil (Eng­lish and French) — June 7, 2010
• UN Human Rights Coun­cil State­ment — May 18, 2010

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Press Releases

• Haiti: Men Sup­port­ing Women’s Rights (The Guardian) — Novem­ber 21, 2011
• Why Con­text Mat­ters: Jour­nal­ists and Haiti (Ms. Mag­a­zine Blog) — July 11, 2011
• Edwidge Dan­ti­cat Speaks on Mac McClel­land Essay (Essence) — July 11, 2011
• Press Release: Inter­na­tional Human Rights Hear­ing on Rape Epi­demic in Haiti (IJDH-BAI, MADRE, Women’s Link World­wide, KOFAVIV) — March 23, 2011
• With Arcade Fire’s Grammy Win, Will Jus­tice for Haiti Go Main­stream? (UN Dis­patch) — Feb­ru­ary 14, 2011
• New Report on Sex­ual Vio­lence in Haiti One Year After the Earth­quake — Jan­u­ary 10, 2011
• Inter-American Human Rights Com­mis­sion Sets Unprece­dented Rec­om­men­da­tions for Hait­ian Gov­ern­ment to Address Wave of Sex­ual Vio­lence in Dis­place­ment Camps — Jan­u­ary 4, 2011
• Human Rights Groups File Legal Peti­tion on Sex­ual Vio­lence Against Women and Girls in Camps for Dis­placed in Haiti — Octo­ber 21, 2010
• (Press Con­fer­ence in Haiti) Human Rights Groups Release Report on Cri­sis of Sex­ual Vio­lence — August 3, 2010
• Rape in Haiti: Report Released on Vio­lence Against Women and Girls in Haiti — July 27, 2010
• Hait­ian Women’s Rights Activist Leaves Camp for Dis­placed Peo­ple to Tes­tify before the UN Human Rights Coun­cil — June 7, 2010
• U.S. Del­e­ga­tion Finds Inad­e­quate Response, and “Victim-Blaming” Approach to Rapes in Hait­ian Dis­place­ment Camps (Eng­lish) — May 17, 2010
• Press Release: Selon une délé­ga­tion améri­caine, la réponse aux viols dans les camps de per­son­nes déplacées en Haïti est inadéquate et rend les vic­times respon­s­ables de leur agres­sion (Ver­sión en Francés) — May 17, 2010

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Inter-American Com­mis­sion on Human Rights Action

• Request for pre­cau­tion­ary mea­sures to pre­vent the irrepara­ble harm of rape, sex­ual vio­lence, and death of women and girls and women’s human rights defend­ers in the inter­nal dis­place­ment camps
  • Legal Doc­u­ment: Request for Pre­cau­tion­ary Mea­sures — Octo­ber 21, 2010
  • Legal Doc­u­ment: Commission’s Deci­sion Grant­ing Pre­cau­tion­ary Mea­sures — Decem­ber 22, 2010
  • Report: Read an analy­sis of the Commission’s Deci­sion by Attor­neys for Peti­tion­ers — Jan­u­ary 2011
  • Press Release: IACHR Com­mis­sion Sets Unprece­dented Rec­om­men­da­tions for Hait­ian Gov­ern­ment to Address Wave of Sex­ual Vio­lence in Dis­place­ment Camps — Decem­ber 22, 2010
  • Press Release: IACHR Expresses Con­cern Over Sit­u­a­tion in Camps for Dis­placed Per­sons in Haiti — Novem­ber 18, 2010
  • Press Release: Human Rights Groups File Legal Peti­tion on Sex­ual Vio­lence Against Women and Girls in Camps for Dis­placed in Haiti

• Hear­ing on Sex­ual Vio­lence in Haiti, March 25, 2011
  • Press Release: Inter­na­tional Human Rights Hear­ing on Rape Epi­demic in Haiti
  • Record­ing of the hear­ing: Con­stant threat of sex­ual vio­lence faced by women and girls in Haiti’s displacement camps
  • Insti­tute for Pol­icy Stud­ies (IPS) reports on the hear­ing before the Inter-American Peti­tion on Human Rights on sex­ual vio­lence against women and girls in Haiti, quot­ing BAI Lawyers’ Earth­quake Response Net­work (LERN) fel­low Annie Gell and part­ner Lisa Davis of MADRE: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55044.
  • Tes­ti­mony
    • Intro­duc­tion of tes­ti­mo­ni­als by Lisa Davis of MADRE
    • Tes­ti­mony of Malya Vil­lard Appolon (Kreyol, English)
    • Tes­ti­mony of Eramithe Delva (Kreyol, English)
    • Inter­ven­tion by Lisa Davis of MADRE
    • Inter­ven­tion of Kather­ine Romero of Women’s Link World­Wide (Span­ish, English)
  • Pic­tures from Hearing

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Take Action

• Half-Hour for Haiti: Help Hait­ian Women Fight Against Rape — April 21, 2010
• Amnesty Inter­na­tional: Help coun­tries like Haiti com­bat vio­lence against women and girls — April 16, 2010

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Mis­cel­la­neous GBV Reports

• CHRGJ and GJC study sug­gests alarm­ing lev­els of sex­ual vio­lence in Haiti linked to lack of basic resources ( NYU Law, law.nyu.edu) — Jan­u­ary 23, 2012
• Strug­gling to Sur­vive: Sex­ual Exploita­tion of Dis­placed Women and Girls in Port au Prince, Haiti — Jan­u­ary 12, 2012
• Fanm ayisyen pap kase: Respect­ing the right to health of Hait­ian women and girls (Health and Human Rights: An Inter­na­tional Jour­nal) — July 18, 2011
• Dri­ven by Des­per­a­tion (United Nations High Com­mis­sioner for Refugees) — May 20, 2011
• The Impact of the Earth­quake, and Relief and Recov­ery Pro­grams on Hait­ian LGBT Peo­ple (IGLHRC and SEROvie) — March 28, 2011
• Sex­ual Vio­lence in Haiti’s IDP Camps: Results of a House­hold Sur­vey (CHRGJ) — March 24, 2011
• Gender-Based Vio­lence Against Hait­ian Women & Girls in Inter­nal Dis­place­ment Camps (MADRE/KOFAVIV, FAVILEK, KONAMAVID, Women’s Link World­wide, Inter­na­tional Women’s Human Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law) — March 24, 2011
• Uni­ver­sal Peri­odic Review Restavèk Report: The Per­sis­tence of Child Labor and Slav­ery: Eng­lish, Kreyol (Restavèk Free­dom) — March 24, 2011
• The BAI Holds Self-Defense Class for the Women and Girls of Haiti — Jan­u­ary 14, 2011
• Haiti: After­shocks: Women Speak Out Against Sex­ual Vio­lence In Haiti’s Camps (Amnesty Inter­na­tional: Eng­lish and French) — Jan­u­ary 6, 2011
• Human Rights of Inter­nally Dis­placed Per­sons in Haiti (UN) — Octo­ber 16, 2010
• Rec­om­men­da­tion to the Amer­i­can Bar Asso­ci­a­tion Con­cern­ing the Rights of Hait­ian Women and Chil­dren — August 10, 2010
• Gender-Based Vio­lence in Haiti (IJDH) — July 27, 2010
• KOFAVIV Camp Secu­rity Report (Eng­lish and French) — July 18, 2010
• Haiti Cherie/My Dear Haiti (TransAfrica Forum) — July 12, 2010

See all Mis­cel­la­neous GBV Reports

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News

• Two Years After Haiti’s Earth­quake, Women Are Still Shat­tered by Sex­ual Exploita­tion — Feb­ru­ary 6, 2012
• Haiti: Men Sup­port­ing Women’s Rights (The Guardian) — Novem­ber 21, 2011
• Hait­ian Group Offers Safe House for Rape Sur­vivors (UNHCR) — Octo­ber 6, 2011
• Only Emer­gency Response Sys­tem Ded­i­cated to Rape and Sex­ual Vio­lence in Haiti Launched (Dig­i­tal Democ­racy) — Sep­tem­ber 22, 2011
• U.N. Troops Accused of Exploit­ing Local Women (Inter Press Ser­vice) — Sep­tem­ber 7, 2011
• As UN Mis­sion Man­date Faces Renewal: UN Soldier’s Sex­ual Assault of Hait­ian Man Pro­vokes Out­rage And Protest: Tran­script (Haiti Lib­erte) — Sep­tem­ber 7, 2011
• U.N. Peace­keep­ers Accused of Sex­u­ally Assault­ing Hait­ian Teen (ABC News) — Sep­tem­ber 2, 2011
• Explo­sive New Report Accuses UN Troops of Sex­ual Assault–Will This Lead to Greater Pres­sure for With­drawal? (Cen­ter for Eco­nomic Pol­icy and Research) — Sep­tem­ber 2, 2011
• Haiti: Earth­quake Recov­ery Fail­ing Women and Girls (Human Rights Watch) — August 30, 2011
• The Reporter and the Rape Vic­tim (the Atlantic) — July 26, 2011

Click here for more Gender-Based Vio­lence News

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Part­ners

• Cen­ter for Con­sti­tu­tional Rights
• Cen­ter for Human Rights and Global Jus­tice of NYU Law School (CHRGJ)
• Dig­i­tal Democ­racy
  • Fanm Pale
• FAVILEK (Women Vic­tims Stand Up)
• KOFAVIV (Com­mis­sion of Women Vic­tims for Victims)
• Goldin Insti­tute (GI)
• Inter­na­tional Women’s Human Rights Clinic CUNY School of Law
• Lawyers’ Earth­quake Response Net­work (LERN)
• MADRE
• New Media Advo­cacy Project
• Part­ners in Health/Zanmi Lasante
• TransAfrica Forum (TAF)

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Links

• Dwa Fanm — an advo­cacy orga­ni­za­tion com­mit­ted to the rights of Hait­ian women and girls.
• Fanm Pale — a women’s rights orga­ni­za­tion fight­ing for women’s inter­ests to be rep­re­sented at the gov­ern­ment level.
• FAVILEK- Women Vic­tims Get Up Stand Up, an orga­ni­za­tion of women who were vic­tim to Hait­ian polit­i­cal vio­lence work­ing for jus­tice and reparations.
• KOFAVIV -  Com­mis­sion of Women Vic­tims for Vic­tims, a Hait­ian grass­roots women’s group.
• MADRE - an inter­na­tional orga­ni­za­tion “demand­ing rights, resources, and results for women worldwide.”
• National Coun­cil for Research on Women — A net­work of research, pol­icy, and advo­cacy cen­ters work­ing to improve the lives of women and girls.
• Peace­Women — Women, Peace, and Secu­rity Resources: Haiti. A Project of the Women’s Int’l League for Peace and Free­dom (WILPF)
• UNIFEM — the United Nations Devel­op­ment Fund for Women
• Wom­en­WarPeace — resources and infor­ma­tion on the effects of armed con­flict on women.  A project of the United Nations Devel­op­ment Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
• Women’s Int’l League for Peace & Free­dom — Infor­ma­tion from the WILPF Haiti Issue Committee

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IJDH Reports | Press Releases | Inter-American Com­mis­sion Lit­i­ga­tion | Take Action | News | Misc. Reports | Project Part­ners | Links