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Cases continue to increase over time. Many reports speak of gang rapes of children as young as 10 years old and of elderly women, often in front of their families as a form of intimidation or in order to demand ransom in large sums of money.
The Défenseurs Group denounced how sexual crimes against women and girls are becoming the object of confrontation, exchange, or negotiation between Haitian gangs.
It is a phenomenon that comes to "institutionalize" more the situation of insecurity in which women live in the street, especially since the situation of ungovernability that reigns in the country after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
The same human rights organization has reported, as part of its press release, the rape of a 17-year-old girl by members of the Kokorat gang just a few days ago.
Today, in Haiti, there are more than half a dozen armed gangs in the middle of the street war. In Port-au-Prince, violence reaches extreme levels. It is where most rapes and outrages are committed. Gangs such as the aforementioned Kokorat use sexual violence to instill fear in the civilian population as a means of subjugation and dominance.
Les femmes ont souffert tout au long de l'histoire de l'humanité de diverses formes de violence et de marginalisation. Le projet Yon Lòt Site Solèy Posib San Vyolans clarifie la véritable position de @ImpacteHT envers les filles et les femmes en Haïti.#CitéSoleil pic.twitter.com/3gQl1y3095
— Initiative Sociale et Impact aux Enfants (@ImpacteHT) July 7, 2023
Cases continue to increase over time. Many reports speak of gang rapes of children as young as 10 years old and of elderly women, often in front of their families as a form of intimidation or in order to demand ransom in large sums of money.
Défenseurs Plus reported other data collected by a collaborating organization focused on the protection of women and girls, Négés Mawon, according to which 652 women and girls were victims of sexual violence in four neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince between May 2022 and March of this year. Of these women, ninety contracted sexually transmitted diseases, and nine were murdered.
It was also reported about the poor infrastructural conditions available for the care of the victims. The absence of effective medical and psychological care increases the vulnerability of the affected population.
In eastern #DRCongo, #Haiti, #Sudan and too many places around the world, the rampant rise in sexual violence is deeply disturbing.
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) July 15, 2023
"This epitomizes the appalling nature of inhumanity to women and girls." - says @UNReliefChief
Read his full remarks: https://t.co/Lvs6xXx9p8 pic.twitter.com/U4EO11jVtC
“They are traumatized and live with the aftermath of violence under a reign of impunity that encourages systematic human rights violations”, the press release continued.
Based on these data, they asked the authorities to play a greater role in confronting these facts, highlighting the situation of pain and anguish experienced by the families of the abused women.
These denunciations have been added to so many others that have ended up having little effect on the Haitian institutions in charge of their confrontation.
We should only remember the conclusions of a report made by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022, which warned that in the absence of adequate and rapid ways to confront violence in the Haitian streets, the destruction of the social fabric could reach extreme limits, undermining any prospect of development and lasting stability. A complete prediction of the situation that Haitian society is currently experiencing.
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