Haiti: Gender-Based Violence After the Earthquake

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On Tuesday, August 31, the U.S. Institute for Peace hosted a panel discussion and webcast "Security After the Quake? Addressing Violence and Rape in Haiti." The panel addressed questions as to why gender-based violence is rampant in Haiti post-earthquake and on what measures are being taken to combat it.<br>
"Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence based on gendered identities and is caused by an imbalance of power and an abuse of that power," says panelist Lina Abirafeh, who is returning from five months in Haiti as the GBV Coordinator for the UN Humanitarian Response. Abirafeh said that almost all cases of reported sexual violence she monitored were perpetrated against women. "When we talk about GBV we are speaking more often than not about violence against women," she said. "But it also affects men, and that's important to note."<br>
Abirafeh was one of four panelists on The U.S. Institute for Peace's panel discussion and webcast "Security After the Quake? Addressing Violence and Rape in Haiti" hosted on Tuesday, August 31, 2010. The panel addressed questions as to why GBV was rampant in Haiti after the earthquake and on what measures are being taken to combat it. <br>
The discussion continually revisited the "bleak" conditions in the makeshift camps. Eight months after the earthquake, more than 1,300 makeshift camps are still home to over one million Haitians. This environment, which increases the vulnerability of female residents, includes co-ed bathing facilities, inadequate internal police patrol, and little to no lighting at night. The panelists shared hope that future humanitarian responses will address these conditions.<br>
GBV in Haiti poses a major health concern because of the interplay between GBV and HIV/AIDS. Abirafeh explains that the connections between GBV and HIV/AIDS are complex. Social stigmas attached to both prevent victims and patients from seeking treatment and support, thus perpetuating discrimination, violence and infection. <br>
One purpose of the discussion was to garner lessons to be learned for future humanitarian responses in Haiti. Abirafeh, along with the other panelists, stressed the importance of a female voice in all aspects of future reconstruction efforts. "Haitian women are extremely resilient," she said. "They know what they want. They want to get back to normal. So it is incumbent upon us to…support them." She stressed that reconstructing Haiti can be an opportunity for female empowerment: "From the ashes—opportunities."<br>
View related Pulitzer Center reporting:<br>
<a href="/projects/caribbean/after-quake-hivaids-haiti">After the Quake: HIV/AIDS in Haiti</a>: Since January's earthquake, hundreds of HIV positive people live in tent cities for internally displaced persons, where their weakened immunity, and the unrelenting heat and rain, make them more vulnerable to diseases. Reporting in progress.<br>
<a href="/HIV-AIDS-in-the-Caribbean">HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean</a>: The Caribbean conjures up visions of sun, sand and tourism to most but with HIV rates second only to those of sub-Saharan Africa, these islands face a complex set of circumstances in their fight against the AIDS epidemic.<br>
<a href="/women-children-crisis">Women. Children. Crisis</a>: In crisis areas, it is often women and children who suffer most. Countries with underdeveloped economies and countries at war face countless difficulties, but stories of the particular misery faced by women and children are often overlooked.<a href="/dying-life"><br>
</a><a href="/dying-life/">Dying for Life</a>: A response to the crisis in maternal health, viewing motherhood as a continuum that encompasses reproductive health, family planning, pregnancy, childbirth and infant and maternal mortality.<br>
<a href="/projects/caribbean/haiti-reconstruction-building-back-better">Haiti's Reconstruction: Building Back Better</a>: Brick by brick, tree by tree, this project chronicles the international effort to help Haiti reconstruct, and rise from the rubble.<br>
<em>Image for this post by Andre Lambertson. For more of his work, see <a href="/projects/caribbean/resilience-ravaged-nation-haiti-after-earthquake">Resilience in a Ravaged Nation: Haiti, After the Earthquake</a> and <a href="/projects/caribbean/after-quake-hivaids-haiti">After the Quake: HIV/AIDS in Haiti</a>.</em>