Sexual assaults continue in Haiti after the earthquake

Thousands of Haitian women who must take refuge in makeshift camps after the earthquake are exposed every day to become rape victims. Amnesty International has publicly denounced that the authorities are giving them an inadequate protection after visiting eight of these camps. The organization explained that the earthquake survivors are living in unsafe conditions, in overcrowding places with lack of toilets, what makes women particularly vulnerable.

Refugees have to sleep in less than one square meter per person. Many children sleep alone at night while their parents are working, and the girls have to bath and dress next to other residents and passersby.

Most of the women that were interviewed by Amnesty International were minors. Among them, one fact spots out: the case of a fifteen year old girl who was raped when she was leaving the camp in search of a place to urinate, because there were no latrines in her place. The inhability of police and judicial system in this period of adjustment makes it particularly difficult for the perpetrators to be punished for these crimes.

According to the information gathered by social collaborators who are working with Haitian women and girls, there is a great fear of reprisals by the perpetrators among them. One girl sent this message to the researchers from the NGOs: "You have to protect us, because I do not want anyone else to suffer what I went through." Delegates from the organization met during their stay the leaders of the Haitian Government, and contacted the head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Also they got in touch with UN agencies that are working in the area, several organizations that defend human rights, and with the ambassadors of Brazil, Canada and France.