Haiti: Call for Action to End Violence against Women and Girls


January 11, 2024 Hour: 8:13 pm

On Thursday, the Departmental Initiative against Trafficking and Smuggling of Children in Haiti (Idette) called for the creation of a multisectoral mechanism capable of protecting women and children in the midst of the insecurity that the Caribbean country is currently experiencing.

RELATED:
Haiti: Caricom Reiterates Support for Restoration of Peace

Avenues should be sought for the care of survivors of abuse, a woman and children at risk unit should be created at the prosecutor’s office level, legal personnel should be trained in gender-based violence, and an awareness campaign should be deployed in schools, markets and churches, the entity recommended.

In the department of Grand-Anse alone – according to the source – 155 cases of rape and 26 attempted rapes against women and girls were registered from January 1 to December 31, 2023.

In that territory, cases of individual and collective rape are widespread, where the attackers take pleasure in filming these dehumanizing acts and then post the audiovisual material on social networks.

The tweet reads, “In its annual report on rape cases in Grand’Anse, to be published this January 8 by the human rights organization IDETTE, page 6 of the report, a copy of which is available to JCOM, reveals a total of 155 cases of rape and 26 attempted rapes of women and girls in Grand’Anse in 2023. This represents an increase on 2022, when there were 149 cases, and 2021, with 107 cases.”

The organization denounced the pressures to which the victims are subjected by the police when they go to make the complaints, and regretted how some parents reach an agreement with the aggressor for up to 100 thousand gourdes, about 757 US dollars, an ox and pigs as compensation, and then the case is closed.

In Haiti, sexual violence is often used as a tool of war to subdue communities. As armed groups surged in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and in provincial cities during 2023, rape cases increased significantly.

Autor: teleSUR/ OSG

Fuente: The Star

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *