SALON

Thursday, Jun 24, 2010 9:45 PM UTC

Haiti: Still an “ideal climate for rape”

Almost half a year after the country's devastating earthquake, sexual violence continues to rise

By

Topics: Violence Against Women, Broadsheet, Haiti, Love and Sex,

Haiti: Still an A woman crosses a street in downtown Port-au-Prince February 26, 2010. Seasonal rains and hurricanes spell trouble for Haiti in the best of times, but with hundreds of thousands of people living in flimsy makeshift shelters after last month's earthquake, this year the dangers are much greater. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (HAITI - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)(Credit: © Carlos Barria / Reuters)

We knew Haiti’s women were at risk even before the dust had settled from the country’s devastating earthquake. In the weeks immediately following the disaster, reports of sexual harassment, assault and trafficking came as no surprise to human rights organizations — or anyone paying even marginal attention to the around-the-clock footage of chaos on cable TV. Nearly six months later, as global attention fades and the rubble remains, rape is still on the rise. 

We saw it coming, but we couldn’t stop it.

So, now we have today’s crushing feature in the New York Times about a 22-year-old Haitian woman who was kidnapped, imprisoned inside the ruins of a house and repeatedly gang raped in a cramped space beneath a collapsed ceiling. Her kidnappers demanded a ransom, which her relatives paid. In exchange, she was dropped off at the family’s house and found on the doorstep, curled up in pain.

As I reported earlier this year, an Amnesty International report detailed “shocking levels” of pre-quake sexual violence, especially against underage girls. The best number the Times was able to come by was from Kofaviv, an organization that helps rape victims, which reported treating 264 victims since the crisis hit; that’s three times the amount reported during the same time last year. Keep in mind, though, that rape cases are underreported in Haiti — as they are nearly everywhere in the world, albeit to dramatically differing degrees.

It isn’t that attempts aren’t being made to protect Haitian girls and women from violence. Patrols and security have been ramped up, but there are too many people, too many tent cities and too many devastated neighborhoods to look after. As Malya Villard, director of Kofaviv, matter-of-factly told the Times: “It’s an ideal climate for rape.”

Tracy Clark-Flory

Tracy Clark-Flory is a staff writer at Salon. Follow @tracyclarkflory on Twitter and Facebook. More Tracy Clark-Flory.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 6 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
2482 points2483 points | 1032 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
847 points848 points | 408 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
124 points125 points | 40 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
20 points21 points | 13 comments
vote
Recent scandals are Whitewater redux, not Watergate
14 points15 points | 2 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations