Rape is the order of the day in Haiti...as it always has been

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Though the American press is largely ignoring the wholesale rape of the women and young girls in Haiti’s refugee camps, the foreign, particularly the British press has been admirably covering this painful story.

A recent article in the British newspaper, The Independent, tells of a 12-year-old Haitian girl who upon being freed from the rubble of her collapsed home, was then raped by the man who rescued her.

The reporter, Nina Lakhani, went on to say Haiti‘s young “girls are being told to wear jeans under their skirts after dark because they are more difficult to cut.”

Rape has become rampant throughout the makeshift tent cities, which have come to dominate the landscape of Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince. Still without power, the nights are particularly treacherous.

Haiti’s national police chief Mario Andresol recently said: “With the blackout that's befallen the Haitian capital, bandits are taking advantage to harass and rape women and young girls under the tents.”

The fact that women and children who were made homeless by the devastating earthquake, and in many cases, lost their husbands and fathers, are now falling prey to lurking savages is almost too horrific for words. However, it is not completely shocking.

More than likely, what is shocking to most, is that rape only became a crime in Haiti in 2005. Prior to that, judges negotiated a monetary settlement to be paid to the victim’s family. Often times, the judge would suggest to the rapist that he marry the woman (or young girl) he raped, to avoid any financial penalty.

However, even with the new law in place, prosecution for rape in Haiti is rare.

The British Newspaper, The Guardian, reported in a recent documentary that during 2009, only 12 rape cases were brought before a judge. Furthermore, there are only 12 police officers working on the child protection unit which is charged with safeguarding Haiti’s 4 million children.

In 2008 Amnesty International issued a report on the issue of rape in Haiti, which stated: “Of 105 rape cases reported so far this year, 55 percent involved girls under age 18. In 2007, 238 rapes were recorded; 140 of these involved girls between 19 months and 18 years old. The cases were recorded by the Haitian Women's Solidarity Movement -- one of the few organizations in Haiti that reports sexual attacks.”

The report also concluded; “Rape has now become a common practice among criminal gangs.”

The report also contained one woman’s painful, personal account of how Haitian culture all too often, blames the victim herself for the crime.

The 22-year-old woman, who was raped at the age of 15, told Amnesty International: “When you’ve been raped, it’s as though you’re shunned from society -- you shouldn’t study; you shouldn’t go to the hospital; you should stay in a corner. Being raped, it makes you… a person without rights, a person rejected from society. It’s as though I am raped every day because every day someone reminds me that I’ve been raped and that I am nothing, that I should put myself in a corner, that I shouldn’t speak, I should say nothing.”

Though the U.S. now seems to be committed to rebuilding Haiti, it is difficult to see how that is possible in a culture where an offense so heinous as rape is so commonplace, and basically accepted as part of daily life.

 

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