Haiti's Forgotten Victims

In Haiti 225,000 to 300,000 children live in forced and violent servitude known as restavèk where they are subject to heavy labour, hunger, beatings, and rape by men and youth in the house. They are promised an education, but rarely go to school.

Prostitution in Haiti is illegal, but Haiti does not have a law to prosecute people. Since the 1970s, Haiti has been a primary country for sex tourism which evolved to trafficking of Dominican women for prostitution preferred by Haitian men.

Post earthquake Haiti is even more destitute and ruthless now than before. In times of recession, human, sexual, labour, and organ trafficking increase. Victims are de-humanized and exploited.

Many will quickly blame events on lack of morality, but sexual and domestic violence existed during the French colonial period and continued unabated during Christian colonial periods. The Haitian Revolution and subsequent coups have only continued brutality and exploitation. What worry is it for one more exploited woman from the centuries of exploited women?

If the problem is exploitation, then how can we decry Haiti while accepting the exploitation of women in Islam, Judaism and Christianity?

Is it less exploitative when the woman agrees to servitude instead of poverty, repression instead of freedom, or moral debenture instead of equality?

The news of Haiti has terrified me but I fear still more that the world has grown so indifferent to the suffering of others, especially when these are many, that it is self explanatory that nobody attends to the rape victims in Haiti, although it is a crime and a violation of rights. I greatly doubt if anything would stir in the like circumstances in my country. Brief news items would appear in the newspapers and perhaps a discussion or two on TV and in the press. But they would have no issue. Just a gesture - see, we are concerned. The more I live, the more often I find it relevant to quote the simplest from Sahespeare: "O horror, horror, horror..." Marija Liudvika Rutkauskaite

Haiti has no oil or other valuable resource. No one cares enough to intervene, and bring law and justice to the island.

Many of your listeners sit with tears flowing and hearts broken, but don't know how to help. Sending money is not the answer, I will be squandered by the supposed AID Organisations. They cannot be trusted.

"If three-quarters of the women in your country had been raped, it would be a national scandal. Why isn't it here?"

Forgive me if I'm not understanding the point of the question.

One would hope that such a state of affairs would be considered more than unacceptable anywhere in the world, of course. But who is the question directed at, and is there some sort of implied guilt being attributed to others than Haitians?

When you say, "If three-quarters of the women in your country had been raped," presumably you are asking non-Haitians. So am I correct in assuming that the question is being directed, for example, to me? Why don't I think this is a travesty? I do think it is a travesty. What next? Are you asking me whether Haiti ought to be re-colonized, because clearly they are unable to govern themselves?

I hope I'm not being too thick. But really, I don't understand what you're getting at.

Re: Many of those who come forward for help have been raped 4,5,6 times, many of these were brutal assaults that required hospitalisation and surgery. Rape has a long, shameful history in Haiti, used for decades as a tool of political suppression during the instability.

Using rape as a means of surpressing women seems to be an obvious but terrible tool for men. That women have to endure this type of degradation is terrible. The physical and emotional trauma that women experience when they are raped shouldn't be ignored; however dealing with the fact that men believe it is an acceptable means for achieving political objectives must be addressed for rapes to become less prevelent. This can be done by focusing on the corruption within Haiti's political process, economy, and by addressing the impact of natural disasters on Haiti. When Haiti experiences a disaster they lose any prosperity previously gained.



Re: The country had one of the worse reputations in the world for sexual and domestic violence targeted at women, even before the earthquake in January 2010.

Haiti has a history of corruption in their political proces as well. I believe this places a large amount of strain on the citizens of Haiti. It is also why there are so many issues facing Haitains. Sexual and domestic violence targeted at women stems from

Last night’s segment on Haiti horrified me, but I have to ask who is ultimately responsible for this? I heard various complaints about “the government” not doing enough and of course it is true that the justice system is obviously not working and it is, or should be, a government’s job to ensure that those responsible for applying and enforcing the rule of law (courts/police) are doing their duty.
But WHO is doing all this unspeakable violence against women, children and even babies? Surprise, surprise, it is Haitian men. What is wrong with these men and how can they be stopped is the question. If they are that sadistic and twisted, women should surely take their own drastic action, backed by some force outside what seems to be a prevailing culture of utter sadism, until the feeble government and forces of lawlessness and disorder are eventually persuaded to act.
No bleating about the evils of colonialism please, this is not the fault of the French or the Americans, or any gang of missionaries pushing any dogma, the blame lies fairly and squarely with the monsters perpetrating the crimes.

Re: My previous post!

I must have cut off the end of my last sentence on my posting above. Sorry about that! I meant to say that sexual and domestic violence targeted against women stems from a toxic mix of all of the issues Haiti faces including corruption, tendency for natural disasters, economic instability, and how children are raised.