A new report by Amnesty International says Haitian women are the targets of armed rapists roaming camps that were set up to shelter more than 1 million quake survivors. The report identifies a trend of rape in some 1,200 camps set up to shelter more than 1 million quake survivors. Another 270,000 people died in the quake.
In the Amnesty's report, "Aftershocks: Women Speak Out Against Sexual Violence in Haiti's Camps," more than 50 survivors of sexual violence in post-earthquake Haiti share their stories.
Machou, a 14 year old girl said she was raped in a public toilet last March at the quake survivors' camp where she lives in Carrefour Feuilles, southwest of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
"A boy came in after me and opened the door. He gagged me with his hand and did what he wanted to do," she said.
"He hit me. He punched me. I didn't go to the police because I don't know the boy, it wouldn't help," she said. "I feel really sad all the time. ... I'm afraid it will happen again."
Such stories show that the Haitian government is not doing enough to protect women and girls, Amnesty International's Haiti researcher, Gerardo Ducos, said in a statement on the group's website.
"For the prevalence of sexual violence to end, the incoming government must ensure that the protection of women and girls in the camps is a priority," he said. "This has so far been largely ignored in the response to the wider humanitarian crisis."
Police presence has not been adequate in the quake survivors' camps, Ducos said, and there are reports that even the few officers who are on patrol have told rape victims they can't help them.
"There is no security for the women and girls in the camps. They feel abandoned and vulnerable to being attacked," he said. "Armed gangs attack at will, safe in the knowledge that there is still little prospect that they will be brought to justice."
Today's Amnesty International report is not the first word that rape and sexual violence are rampant in Haiti. Such attacks were even common before last January's earthquake, but they are believed to have grown exponentially after it.
Amnesty International is documenting a real time tragedy. Support for the work of Amnesty International can be made online.Contributions will make a real difference and help Amnesty International demand justice and end impunity wherever human rights violations occur.
