Between 2010 and 2012, numerous reports have examined gender-based violence (GBV) in post-earthquake Haiti. These reports have focused on rape and other sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Port au Prince. In December 2010, recognizing that sexual violence against displaced women and girls is a serious problem in Haiti, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), issued a groundbreaking decision requesting that the Government of Haiti take urgent measures to address sexual violence. These measures included increased security patrols in the camps, improved lighting, adequate medical care, legal accountability, as well as participation of grassroots women’s groups in developing anti-violence policies and practices. United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs and the Independent Expert on Haiti have also drawn attention to the grave issues of violence against women and impunity for such acts in Haiti.
The Haitian Ministry for Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights (Women’s Ministry) is in the process of finalizing draft legislation addressing violence against women. Notwithstanding this heightened awareness and attention, violence against women and girls continues unabated. A social science researcher has recently found a staggering twenty-two percent of displaced persons and two percent of general community members have been victims of sexual assault. The Haitian grassroots women’s organization KOFAVIV, through its network of community outreach workers and free sexual violence hotline, documented 269 incidents of rape in and around Port au Prince from March to October 2011 alone. Around 520,000 Haitians still live in IDP camps in conditions without access to adequate food, health services, security or economic opportunity, placing them at risk for increased violence. As the international presence diminishes, the situation in displacement camps continues to become more precarious.
Post-earthquake conditions have made young women and girls particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Through its work combating rape and other sexual violence, KOFAVIV has identified sexual exploitation as a priority issue. “Sexual Exploitation” is defined in this Report as the abuse of differential power for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another, thus abrogating the victim’s human right to dignity, equality, autonomy, and physical and mental well-being. “Survival sex” is defined here as the exchange of sex in circumstances where those exchanging sex for survival lack other options.
KOFAVIV requested the assistance of MADRE, the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic of CUNY School of Law, the Global Justice Clinic at NYU Law, and the UC Hastings Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, to investigate the problem of sexual exploitation, identify its causes and consequences, conduct a legal and critical analysis, and provide concrete recommendations to the Haitian government and other actors to develop more effective responses in line with international obligations.
While there are no reliable statistics on the prevalence of survival sex in IDP camps, or post- earthquake Haiti more generally, sexual exploitation has been identified as an issue in nearly every humanitarian or human rights report on women’s rights since the earthquake. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conducted a study into the issue, finding that women in focus groups commonly reported exchanging sexual acts in return for food and other survival needs, including aid distribution coupons, access to direct aid distributions, cash for work programs, money, or even a single meal. On top of the hardships suffered by all IDP camp residents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that women and girls are additionally harmed by sexual violence, the need to engage in survival sex, and a lack of access to family planning, prenatal and obstetric care. Women and girls who engage in survival sex are especially at risk of unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and other related health problems. They are often isolated from their social networks and communities, increasing the risk of violence and despair.
A study by the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) mirrored these findings, confirming that single mothers are the most vulnerable population to sexual exploitation, and therefore more likely to engage in survival sex. Additionally, preliminary survey results from a study conducted by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice suggest that camp residents believe that trading sex for basic needs has become a more common survival strategy for women and girls in the camps since the earthquake. Thus, for many women, survival sex appears to be a new coping mechanism that is driven by the breakdown of family and community structures, the loss of associated protection and safety nets, and poor economic opportunity.
In November and December 2011, teams of researchers from MADRE, the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law, Global Justice Clinic at NYU Law and the UC Hastings Center for Gender & Refugee Studies conducted a fact-finding investigation in Haiti in an effort to respond to KOFAVIV’s request for a critical analysis of the current response to sexual exploitation in Haiti and to build on existing research into the issue, such as that of the UNHCR and HRW.
The investigation focused on elucidating the factors that make women and girls particularly vulnerable to exploitation, examining the effects of this exploitation, and evaluating the programs developed by the Haitian government and the international community to respond to it. During the fact-finding investigation, team members interviewed numerous young women who exchanged sex for food, education or other necessities for themselves and their families, as well as numerous residents of camps knowledgeable about the practice. The team also interviewed a wide range of governmental and non-governmental representatives as well as service providers and outreach workers from grassroots organizations working in displacement camps. The study suggests that sexual exploitation is widespread. In addition, the study found that little is being done to address the issue, due in large part to a lack of understanding and a history of impunity for violence against women in Haiti.
The findings of this Report are consistent with numerous other reports examining sexual exploitation and exchange in post-earthquake Haiti. Sexual exploitation is not unfamiliar in a country that has faced overlapping emergencies for decades. Yet the evidence suggests that sexual exploitation increases dramatically when levels of vulnerability are heightened and access to food and basic services needed for survival are limited.
The findings of this report suggest that much remains to be done in the way of effectively preventing, combating and responding to sexual exploitation, and other forms of violence against women in post-earthquake Haiti.
As such, the report concludes by offering a series of recommendations designed to holistically address this issue. These recommendations cover four areas of concern:
- meeting immediate needs of those people most vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including ensuring that poor and displaced Haitians are provided with basic necessities of life such as food, comprehensive medical and health care and temporary shelter; and improving security measures and police response to sexual exploitation and other forms of gender-based violence;
- meeting long-term needs, including the provision of free education, income generating opportunities, housing and adequate health care; and the implementation of effective measures to promote and protect the right to be free from sexual violence;
- integrating services, including training medical staff, police, outreach workers and other first responders on how to identify and respond to youth vulnerable to sexual exploitation; coordinating with civil society, and encouraging the full participation and leadership of women and systematizing data collection documenting the prevalence of all forms of violence against women in displacement camps;
- and ending impunity and ensuring accountability, including working to finalize, pass and implement the Draft Law on Violence Against Women; ensuring that reported cases of rape, and abuses of power by public sector and other humanitarian workers are held responsible, and, conversely, that women and girls engaging in survival sex are not punished.
