Haitians living in fear 'under the tent'
Among others, World major news media obviously focus
on the US Presidential debate and election beside news on the continuous killing of thousand innocent civilians in Syria.
Meanwhile in Russia people are talking about feminist
punk band (Pussy Riot) with openly anti-Putin lyrics seeking to bring down the
Russian government, were unfortunately arrested and put to jail.
In Asia news highlighted the possible
war between north and south Korea. In Philippines the news recite exclusively, the
memorable peace deal between the government and the rebels ‘MNLF’ from the
south (Mindanao).
However very little mentioned about human suffering in the small island of
Haiti. Even though Haiti's terror didn't end when the ground
stopped shaking.
The island once stuck by earthquake
in January 2010 is the most recent, and possibly most tragic, of events to have
befallen the impoverished island nation of Haiti.
Haiti has long played the dark shadow to the
bright sunlight of the rest of the Caribbean. Optimism over Haiti's impending
renaissance has been subsumed beneath the horrors of the earthquake, which has
resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displacements.
- Reports of rape and sexual violence have been all too common after the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced almost 25% of the entire population.
- "On the evening of January 20, several young men were firing gunshots in the air. They came into our shelter and grabbed my 19-year-old niece," one woman, Dina, told Amnesty International. "They just came in, grabbed her and dragged her away. ... She was raped by several men. They took her at around 9 p.m. and let her go at around 2 a.m."
- Another woman, Guerline, told the rights group that she and her 13-year-old daughter were attacked on the same night in March 2010. The men wore hoods and told Guerline that if she went to the police, she would be shot dead.
- "There is nowhere safe where I can live, so I had to keep quiet," she said. "I didn't take my daughter to the hospital. She was too scared. I sent her to another town where some relatives live."
- In the days following the disaster, camps were set up to provide shelter for more than a million displaced Haitians. But these "tent cities" have been far from ideal, according to Malya Villard-Appolon, one of this year's top 10 CNN Heroes.
- "After the earthquake, the situation was inhumane and degrading. There was no security. There was no food; there was no work," said Villard-Appolon, a rape survivor who co-founded an organization, KOFAVIV, that helps other victims find safety, medical aid and legal support.
- "Two years after the earthquake, it is still the same," she said. "The people are still under the tent, they don't have electricity, they are getting raped."
- Nearly 370,000 people remain in displacement camps, according to the U.N. And gruesome reports of violence, inadequate health care and substandard living conditions have painted a picture of horror and hopelessness.
- In one study, published in January by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (PDF), 14% of households reported that at least one member of the household had been a victim of sexual violence since the earthquake. And 70% of households surveyed said they were now more worried about sexual violence.
- Residents have cited lack of lighting, long walks to the bathroom, and flimsy tents as some of the issues putting females at risk of attack. Many females also are on their own for the first time.
- "Women and girls were left to fend for themselves in camps," said Anne-christine d'Adesky, project coordinator for PotoFanm+Fi, a nonprofit that has been working with more than 70 Haitian support groups to track post-earthquake violence. "Because of the great displacement, people lost that sense of community protection."
- Women and girls were left to fend
for themselves in camps. ... People lost that sense of community protection.
Anne-christine d'Adesky, project coordinator for PotoFanm+Fi - Accurate numbers of gender-based violence are difficult to find in the aftermath of such devastation, especially when many victims fear retaliation. But d'Adesky said her group has seen a steady rise in reports, which she attributes to increased outreach.
One young woman, Marie, was raped in
the Champ de Mars camp and had her jaw broken. She said she was also forced
into prostitution so she could eat and survive.
High numbers of adolescent girls are
engaging in what they call "transactional sex" for shelter and food,
d'Adesky said. Many of those interviewed claimed they had never sold sex
before, but the earthquake had left them no option.
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