There are approximately 1.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) occupying 1,000 tent cities across Haiti. Security within the tent cities is almost nonexistent and the Haitian government is finally beginning to focus upon the high rate of sexual violence against women and girls within the cities. More than 250 cases of rape in several camps were reported in the first 150 days after the January 2010 earthquake, according Amnesty International.
Lawyers Earthquake Response Network (LERN), led by the U.S. based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), is a national network of lawyers in the U.S. working with Haitian lawyers to implement a legal response to the earthquake in Haiti. Launched on January 17th, 2010 and within the first 2 weeks, over 250 lawyers, law professors, and students joined the network.
Girls are common targets of rape within the tent cities. A recent University of Michigan study estimates that over half of the victims in their survey on sexual assault were under the age of eighteen. In addition to the security issues, medical treatment after a rape occurs is basically nonexistent.
LERN’s Rape Accountability and Prevention Project (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 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.
If you wish to show your support to the girls and women of Haiti, please join the Facebook page of KOFAVIV (Commission of Women Victims for Victims). For information on how to get involved with LERN, please click here.
Sources: Caribbean Life News, REBUILD Globally, LERN, and Amnesty International
Follow me on Facebook or Twitter and click Subscribe to receive articles on Women’s Issues topics via email! Questions about this article or simply want to contact this writer? Send an email to wiexaminer@gmail.com.
Comments