UNFPA / HAITI GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
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STORY: UNFPA / HAITI GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
TRT:4:52
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNFPA ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE: 17 -24 MAY 2024, FOSREF IDP CAMP, MINISTERE DE LA COMMUNICATION, BOIS VERNA, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI; MARIE JEANNE HIGH SCHOOL, BOIS VERNA, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
24 MAY 2024, FOSREF IDP CAMP, MINISTERE DE LA COMMUNICATION, BOIS VERNA, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
1. Wide shot, street outside of the Ministère de la Communication
2. Wide shot, exterior of the Ministère de la Communication
3. Wide shot, people living in the camp
4. Wide shot, the camp
5. Wide shot, the camp
6. Wide shot, people living in the camp
7. Wide shot, people living in the camp
8. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Anonymous sexual violence survivor:
“They forced people out [from their homes]. Gang members were fighting the police and each other. When I was displaced to Place Hugo Chavez, I was four months pregnant and on my own with six children. Now, I have seven.”
9. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Anonymous sexual violence survivor:
“They saw that I was alone without a man, so I was mistreated more than others. I was pregnant and had an abscess in my vagina. I slept without underwear, and could not sleep well. I felt they were touching me. I felt them touching me. When I spoke out, they hit and slapped me. I was lying in blood. That's when others called an ambulance to take me to the hospital.”
10. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Anonymous sexual violence survivor:
“I constantly feel afraid for my daughter who is 11, soon to be 12. I am frightened for her. I have another daughter who is 5, I'm afraid for her too. My oldest daughter is 17 and already has a child.”
11. Wide shot, the anonymous sexual violence survivor in the FOSREF IDP camp with her childern.
12. Med shot, the anonymous sexual violence survivor in the FOSREF IDP camp with her childern.
13. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Anonymous sexual violence survivor:
“When I arrived, I couldn't find a place to sleep. I had to sleep in the alleyway. When it rains, I can't even lie down. I have my baby on top of me and my 5-year-old by my side. I ended up here because I have nowhere else to go. I don't like my life here.”
14. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mirlanda Lindor, FOSREF Health Officer:
“In the camps, the biggest risk is sexual assault, including rape, because people are living very close to one another. FOSREF opens our doors to welcome all survivors of physical, sexual, and other forms of violence.”
15. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mirlanda Lindor, FOSREF Health Officer:
“One of the things we do to increase security is to keep in constant contact with the supervisors of sites. We explain the importance of having teams to manage and monitor the situation, especially where there are children – both girls and boys - who are easy targets because there are all types of people in the camps – many of them are unknown to us. We discuss strategies with them, particularly during the night, so they establish routines, where one team is on duty patrolling the sites one night, another team the following night, and so on."
16. Wide shot, Mirlanda Lindor leads information session on gender-based violence bin front of signs saying “San nylons lavi pi bel (Life is more beautiful without violence)”
17. Wide shot, people in the session
18. Med shot, two women listening
19. Close up, women listening
20. Med shot, Mirlanda Lindor leads information session
21. Med shot, people listening
22. Med shot, a woman listening
23. Wide shot, people in the session
24. Med shot, UNFPA supplies
25. Wide shot, the information session
26. Close up, Mirlanda Lindor leads information session
27. Med shot, a participant receiving aid supplies
28. Med shot, a participant receiving aid supplies
29. Close up, UNFPA supplies
30. Med shot, a psychologist providing counselling service
31. Wide shot, a psychologist providing counselling service
21 MAY 2024, MARIE JEANNE HIGH SCHOOL, BOIS VERNA, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
32. Wide shot, Marie Jeanne High School used as an IDP camp
33. Wide shot, Marie Jeanne High School used as an IDP camp
34. Wide shot, social worker conducts a gender-based violence awareness session
35. Wide shot, awareness session
36. Wide shot, people in the camp
37. Med shot, awareness session
Widespread gang violence has plagued people in Haiti for several years, but it spiraled further out of control at the end of February 2024. Since then, women and girls have faced daily horrors – the loss of loved ones, homes destroyed by fire and the ever-present shadow of fear as armed gangs use extreme acts of gender-based violence, including collective rape, to humiliate, terrorize and consolidate control over communities.
Even before the surge in violence at the end of February, the number of killings, kidnappings, lynchings, and incidents of gender-based violence had soared over recent years, with sexual violence increasing by 50 percent between 2022 and 2023.
Since March of this year, displacement has risen by 60 percent with 185,000 people forced from their homes in the Metropolitan Area of the capital, Port-au-Prince – many of them multiple times. Some of the women and children who have managed to escape from neighbourhoods in the grip of gangs have taken refuge in camps for displaced people in the Port-au-Prince area – many others are forced to live on the streets. Conditions at displacement sites are dire. They lack basic services, there is not enough food or water and camps are ill equipped to accommodate so many people with too few toilets and showers, increasing public health and protection risks.
The violence has battered the already weakened health system, which is now on the verge of collapse. Hospitals and health facilities have been forced to close and access to those that are still functioning is limited, depriving women of reproductive healthcare. Essential medicines and supplies, including for the clinical management of rape, are in short supply, as are staff to provide medical treatment to survivors. Around 40 percent of Haiti's medical personnel have left the country due to the violence. Only 3 percent of rape survivors are able to receive medical treatment within 72 hours.
Hunger is an increasingly dangerous threat. A record five million people – or half of the population of Haiti – could face acute levels of food insecurity by the end of June. In a country where horrifying levels of sexual and gender-based violence have already destroyed so many lives, this will exacerbate the suffering and dangers for women and girls, and potentially increase their reliance on negative coping mechanisms.
UNFPA, working through its partners, continues to try to supply health facilities and hospitals that are still operational with essential medicines for maternal health and gender-based violence treatment. Twelve facilities (five in the West Department and eight in Artibonite) have been provided with supplies for the clinical management of rape. UNFPA is also deploying mobile clinics to displacement sites to provide gender-based violence prevention and support, operating hotlines for survivors of sexual assault, and has established two centres in displacement sites that provide counselling. Awareness raising sessions on available services to prevent and respond to violence, and how to access them, are on-going in displacement sites.
The recent reopening of Haiti’s main international airport and seaport in Port-au-Prince for passenger and cargo flights is a breakthrough – following months of gang blockades. What is urgently needed now is sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access at scale, including the safe movement of humanitarian and frontline workers, and the delivery of essential health and protection services and supplies. In the long-term, what Haiti and women and girls need are real and durable solutions to end the persistent violence.
UNFPA’s $28 million appeal in Haiti in 2024 is only 19 percent funded. Immediate, flexible funding is urgently needed to meet the needs of women and girls.