Legal victory for Haitian Women

[bcholmes]

Issu­ing unprece­dented rec­om­men­da­tions to the Hait­ian gov­ern­ment, the Inter-American Com­mis­sion on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted a legal request sub­mit­ted in Octo­ber by a group of advo­cates and attor­neys for dis­placed Hait­ian women includ­ing MADRE, the Insti­tute for Jus­tice & Democ­racy in Haiti (IJDH), the Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux (BAI), the Cen­ter for Con­sti­tu­tional Rights (CCR) and CUNY School of Law. The IACHR’s ground­break­ing rec­om­men­da­tions request that the Hait­ian gov­ern­ment take imme­di­ate mea­sures to pre­vent sex­ual vio­lence against women and girls in dis­place­ment camps.

“Con­di­tions in the dis­place­ment camps, fol­low­ing the Jan­u­ary 12 earth­quake, have exac­er­bated women’s vul­ner­a­bil­ity to rape,” said Malya Villard-Apollon, a found­ing mem­ber of the women’s grass­roots advo­cacy orga­ni­za­tion KOFAVIV (Com­mis­sion of Women Vic­tims for Vic­tims). “Women and girls live in con­stant fear for their safety.”

— "Inter-American Human Rights Commission Sets Unprecedented Recommendations for Haitian Government to Address Wave of Sexual Violence in Displacement Camps", IJDH Press Release