Two-year anniversary of Haiti earthquake

Two years ago today, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the already poverty-stricken island nation of Haiti. Two years later, after and amidst international relief efforts cited by many as inadequate, the country remains in a state of devastation.

According to Democracy Now! which has reported live from Port-au-Prince to cover this story, the recovery process is just beginning in parts of Haiti. Half-a-million people are still living in crowded camps. According to the United Nations, of the $4.5 billion pledged after the earthquake, only about $2.4 billion has been delivered. Only half of the debris littering the capital of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas has been cleared.

The earthquake killed roughly 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless initially. Ten months later in October 2012, a cholera epidemic broke out. It is widely believed the cholera was brought to Haiti by a battalion of Nepalese troops with the U.N. peacekeeping force. By the end of 2010, more than 3,333 had died at a rate of about 50 deaths a day; the total is now closer to 5,000 by some accounts. From the beginning, the crowded conditions, chaos and inadequate protection by the U.N. gave rise to rampant rape of women and girls.

Now, a coalition of groups has released a report stating that women and girls are more and more often relying on ‘survival sex’ or ‘transactional sex’, their desperation often manipulated by those charged with ‘protecting’ them. The report states, “Displaced women and girls have lost family and community members, along with the protection and safety nets those relationships offered. Because of poverty and a lack of economic opportunity, many women and girls are forced to trade sex for shelter, money or even a single meal. In many cases, those demanding sex are the very people who hold themselves out as representatives of the people — members of camp committees.”

Blaine Bookey, Staff Attorney for the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies said today, “Although almost all individuals interviewed for this report recognized that sexual exploitation is widespread, representatives of government agencies responsible for addressing sexual exploitation hold stereotypes related to gender and poverty that present an obstacle to implementing practical solutions. Beyond this, the Haitian government’s inability to develop a meaningful response to sexual exploitation is also due to a stark lack of resources. I am hopeful the report will help breakdown these harmful stereotypes and bring much needed resources to bear.”

The other groups involved in researching and drafting the report include MADRE (a women’s human rights organization), NYU Global Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law, and KOFAVIV, an organization founded by and for rape survivors in the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince.