Rapes soar as orphaned teenage girls forced into prostitution

CLOSE to 1,000 women and girls have been raped in camps in the capital since last year’s earthquake in Haiti and orphaned teenage girls are being forced to sell their bodies for as little as one dollar to feed themselves.

Ahead of today’s first anniversary of the devastating earthquake, rape victim support groups yesterday rounded on the government calling for measures to prevent sexual attacks in camps and the prosecution of rapists.

Fears of sexual disease, the abuse of children and the continued insecurity in the country’s near 1,150 camps, prompted the calls which were backed by Amnesty International (AI).

Amnesty’s Gerardo Ducos said the government had failed to respond to victims’ pleas.

“If they don’t arrest them, they will continue to do what they’re doing. But it’s also the way the victims are living in camps, that’s how sometimes they are exposed and violated.”

An Amnesty report this week featured interviews with 50 women in 15 camps who were raped.

The investigation found a lack of lighting in camps, overcrowding, a breakdown of law and order and insecure bedding were all reasons which contributed to violence. Victim support groups echoed these concerns yesterday at a joint press conference with Amnesty in the capital.

Malya Apollon Villard, director with the support group KOFAVIV, revealed that over 859 cases of rape in 22 camps in Port au Prince were reported to her group since the 2010 earthquake.

“Since the quake we have had victims aged from three, five, nine and older.”

Ms Apollon Villard also said the support group was aware of 80 cases where girls aged between 10 and 17 who had lost their parents in the disaster and were living in tents, were offering their bodies for sex for 50 Gourde ($1.20) at a time.

“They do this to save their lives. But we are also trying to offer them other skills so they don’t go back to this,” she added.

One 15-year-old victim had been raped by a policeman who was now in jail but this was only one of just four cases that had been successfully prosecuted, added Ms Apollon Villard.

Another local support group, Favilek, said there had been reports of gangs wearing police uniforms entering emergency camps and beating women, particularly in the city’s western slum of Martissant.

Support group leader, Yolande Bazelais, said: “The government must be more responsible dealing with this. There are little girls living under tents. This can’t go on. If it persists, there may be other diseases.”

The AI report also noted that police had asked female victims for money when rapes were reported and that government funding was needed to replace Haiti’s collapsed health, law and policing systems to prevent sexual attacks and help victims.