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 justice system in Haiti;
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, adopted December 18, 1979; the Inter-American Convention on the
Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women, adopted at
Belem Do Para, Brazil, June 9, 1994; 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, adopted November 20,
1989, 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 are victims to other forms of violence; and
Whereas the 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
That the Senate—
(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, including, in particular ensuring—
(i)privacy during examinations;
(ii)availability of female medical staff
members, with a cultural sensitivity and experience with victims of sexual
violence;
(iii)timely issuance of free medical
certificates;
(iv)availability of HIV prophylaxis, and
(v)sexual reproductive health and emergency
contraception;
(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 and 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 ruling administration in Haiti, 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 Government of Haiti in its efforts—
(A)to 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)to 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)to 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)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, integrates provisions for judicial
and medical services for gender-based violence victims, and reflects key
findings of decentralized assessments in both urban and rural zones.