[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 521 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 521

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should work with the Government of Haiti to address gender-based 
                  violence against women and children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2012

Ms. Wilson of Florida (for herself, Ms. Bass of California, Mr. Berman, 
   Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. 
      Capuano, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mrs. 
Christensen, Ms. Chu, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Clarke of Michigan, Ms. Clarke 
   of New York, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Conyers, Mr. 
Cummings, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Fattah, 
    Ms. Fudge, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hastings of 
 Florida, Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Eddie 
Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Keating, Ms. Lee 
   of California, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Meeks, Ms. 
Moore, Ms. Norton, Mr. Payne, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Richardson, Mr. Richmond, 
  Mr. Rush, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Scott of 
   Virginia, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Towns, Ms. 
  Waters, and Mr. Watt) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should work with the Government of Haiti to address gender-based 
                  violence against women and children.

Whereas since 1993, research has shown tens of thousands of women and girls have 
        been victims of sexual or gender-based violence in Haiti, particularly 
        in times of conflict or natural disaster;
Whereas approximately 50 percent of the victims are adolescent girls under the 
        age of 18, with many of the cases involving the use of weapons, gang 
        rape, and death threats for reporting the crime;
Whereas members of many medical professions are insufficiently trained to attend 
        to the special needs of victims of gender-based violence, whether they 
        be children or adults;
Whereas some medical providers report as many as 20 percent of adolescent 
        victims they have treated for sexual violence become pregnant from their 
        rape;
Whereas some women's rights groups in Haiti have witnessed dramatic increases in 
        rates of sexual violence in many of the displacement camps formed after 
        the earthquake;
Whereas the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti increased the economic and 
        social vulnerabilities of many women who are now unable to protect their 
        young children from sexual predators, thereby increasing their risk for 
        sexual violence;
Whereas according to data from public interest law firms litigating cases of 
        sexual violence, significant gender-based barriers to justice continue 
        to exist at all levels of the Haitian justice system;
Whereas an effective, transparent, and impartial judicial system is key to the 
        administration of justice, and the failure to ensure proper 
        investigations and prosecutions hampers the ability to hold perpetrators 
        accountable for their crimes and discourages victims from formally 
        seeking justice;
Whereas inadequate financial, human, and technical resources, as well as a lack 
        of forensic and technical expertise, have impeded the arrest and 
        prosecution of suspects;
Whereas members of the police, prosecutors, and judges are insufficiently 
        trained to attend to either the special needs of women and girl victims 
        of gender-based violence, or the special needs of boys and girls who are 
        victims of other abuses such as forced labor, beatings, or violence;
Whereas the lack of protection measures discourages women and girls in Haiti 
        from pursuing prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence, for fear 
        of reprisal or stigmatization;
Whereas rape and other forms of gender-based violence in Haiti threaten the 
        physical and psychological health of both the victims and their 
        families;
Whereas many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean face significant 
        challenges in combating violence against women and girls, and violence 
        against children, and international cooperation is essential in 
        addressing this serious issue;
Whereas the Government of Haiti has undertaken efforts to prevent violence 
        against women, as evidenced by its ratification of the United Nations 
        Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 
        Women, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and 
        Eradication of Violence Against Women, and other international human 
        rights treaties, and the enactment of laws and the creation of state 
        institutions to promote and protect the rights of women;
Whereas the Government of Haiti has been a signatory of the United Nations 
        Convention on the Rights of the Child since December 29, 1994;
Whereas the Haitian National Police and the United Nations Mission for 
        Stabilization of Haiti have created special police units to address 
        sexual and other forms of gender-based violence in Haiti;
Whereas the special police unit to address gender-based violence within the 
        Haitian National Police remains significantly under-resourced, rendering 
        it practically ineffective to carry out its mandate;
Whereas in March 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a 
        report recognizing Haiti's history of gender discrimination that fuels 
        gender-based violence and gives rise to a climate of impunity;
Whereas in December 2010, the Inter-American Commission detailed steps the 
        Government of Haiti must take to protect women and girls from increased 
        risk of gender-based violence in post-earthquake Haiti;
Whereas in 2012, the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights in 
        Haiti plans to unveil a comprehensive draft law that calls for the 
        prevention, punishment, and elimination of violence against women;
Whereas the United Nations and donor countries, such as the United States, 
        continue to have a prominent economic and leadership role in the 
        stabilization and reconstruction of Haiti;
Whereas few mechanisms exist in Haiti to protect the rights of young children 
        not living at home, such as restaveks, who are engaged in forced labor, 
        or victims to other forms of violence against them; and
Whereas lack of protection for women and girls and continuing impunity for 
        crimes against women is a threat to the rule of law, democracy, and 
        stability in Haiti: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) sympathizes with the families of women and children 
        victimized by sexual and other forms of gender-based violence 
        in Haiti;
            (2) urges the treatment of the issue of violence against 
        women and children as a priority for the United States 
        Government's humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Haiti;
            (3) asserts its support for the passage of Haiti's first 
        comprehensive law on the prevention, punishment, and 
        elimination of all forms of gender-based violence;
            (4) calls on the Government of Haiti to establish urgent 
        plans that address the needs of vulnerable and unprotected 
        children who are in situations of sexual exploitation, forced 
        labor, or face sexual and or domestic violence, and to take 
        steps to immediately implement those plans, in consultation 
        with grassroots organizations working specifically on the 
        protection and promotion of the rights of children;
            (5) calls on the Government of Haiti to take steps to 
        implement the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission 
        on Human Rights issued in response to increased levels of 
        sexual violence in camps for internally displaced persons on 
        December 22, 2010, including--
                    (A) ensuring participation and leadership of 
                grassroots women's groups in planning and implementing 
                policies and practices to combat and prevent sexual 
                violence and other forms of violence in the camps;
                    (B) ensuring provision of comprehensive, 
                affordable, adequate, and appropriate medical and 
                psychological care in locations accessible to victims 
                of sexual violence in camps for those internally 
                displaced;
                    (C) implementing effective security measures in 
                displacement camps, such as providing street lighting, 
                adequate patrolling in and around the camps, and a 
                greater number of female security forces in police 
                patrols in the camps and in police stations in 
                proximity to the camps;
                    (D) ensuring that public officials, such as police 
                officers, prosecutors, and judges, responsible for 
                responding to incidents of sexual violence receive 
                specialized training from experienced Haitian and 
                international women's organizations with a proven track 
                record in gender-sensitive protection enabling them to 
                respond adequately to complaints of sexual violence 
                with appropriate sensitivity and in a nondiscriminatory 
                manner; and
                    (E) maintaining effective special units within the 
                police and the prosecutor's office investigating cases 
                of rape and other forms of violence against women and 
                girls;
            (6) asserts its commitment to support the Haitian Ministry 
        of Women's Affairs in its efforts to--
                    (A) build ministry capacity, facilitate gender-
                based violence sub-cluster meetings and initiatives as 
                it transitions over to the Government of Haiti;
                    (B) perform decentralized meetings, consultations, 
                and outreach to women's movements and community groups;
                    (C) address issues of gender-based violence 
                country-wide, including violence in internally 
                displaced person camps, rural peasant communities, and 
                among children; and
                    (D) strengthen gender assessments, gender budgets, 
                and gender planning in collaboration with other Haitian 
                Ministries, the Haitian Parliament, the Haitian 
                Administration, the United Nations, the Inter-American 
                Commission on Human Rights, donors, and international 
                nongovernmental organizations within the reconstruction 
                process; and
            (7) asserts its support for the Government of Haiti, 
        especially the Ministry of Women's Affairs, in its efforts to 
        assess, amend, and renew its 5-year gender protection plan, 
        which expired in October 2011, which includes support for the 
        Haitian government in its efforts to accomplish the following--
                    (A) thoroughly assess the impact of the previous 5-
                year protection plan, including both pre and post-
                earthquake analyses and perform diversified assessments 
                in consultation with local, regional, and national 
                women's groups throughout the country, that will help 
                gather decentralized data in both urban and rural 
                zones;
                    (B) perform specialized surveys and interviews in a 
                significant sampling of internally displaced person 
                camps and impoverished neighborhoods with high rates of 
                gender-based violence with victims of rape and 
                violence, the community groups that support them, and 
                local officials in order to fully understand the needs 
                and recommendations of these different populations and 
                integrate these findings into a revised protection 
                plan;
                    (C) revise the existing Haitian protection plan 
                based on the results of diversified and decentralized 
                assessments and in direct consultation with national, 
                regional, and local government officials, and 
                grassroots organizations including women's groups and 
                international institutions that focus on solutions to 
                gender-based violence; and
                    (D) work with the Parliament and the Administration 
                to amend, reintroduce, and pass into law a revised 
                Haiti gender protection plan that reflects current 
                post-earthquake realities, the needs and 
                recommendations of victims of gender-based violence and 
                the community groups that support them, integrate 
                provisions for judicial and medical services for 
                gender-based violence victims and reflect key findings 
                of decentralized assessments in both urban and rural 
                zones.
                                 <all>