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HAITI / CAMP RAPES
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STORY: HAITI / CAMP RAPES
TRT: 5.43
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH/ CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE: 21 JULY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Wide shot, tents in Camp Acra
2. Med shot, People walking, children carrying water on their heads
3. Med shot, people walking next to tents
4. Med shot, woman walking in her wooden house
5. Med shot, 2 women talking to each other
6. Med shot, women washing clothes
7. Wide shot, woman standing alone in a camp
8. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Rape victim:
“I was about to go and see a film at the cinema. On my way, a guy called me. I refused to answer him. He told me: “This is what I don’t like when you girls don’t answer when I am calling you”. Then he came, took my arm and took me to the banana field”.
9. Close up, girl from behind in a car
10. Close up, feet from girls and Police women
11. Wide shot, ISPs carrying their belongings
12. Med shot, Girl, PNH and UNPOL ladies talking to each other
13. Wide shot, three women talking and girl leaves
14. Wide shot, street in Port au Prince with food sellers
15. SOUNDBITE (French) Frantz Lerebours, Spokesperson HNP:
“Because of the proximity there is promiscuity. If the person is not sensitized, she will not be filing a case. You know, there is stigma that exists around these questions. We are about to break these taboos’. If the woman is not aware of her rights after she got raped she will not go to the police. Sometimes the women are afraid that everyone will know about her case when she is reporting about it.”
16. Pan left, camp
17. Med shot, children walking next to tents
18. Med shot, woman opening her barrack
19. Med shot, woman inside barrack
20. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Guerda Joseph, Tapis Vert Camp resident:
“I am here since 6 months, I have no husband anymore, I have nothing. During the day, the Haitian Police is patrolling the camp. But there is also a group of young men who are walking the whole day and even at night. When the police are not here, they are present – even when it rains.”
21. Med shot, woman walking away
22. Med shot, young men walking
23. Med shot, two men in front of ten
24. Close up, ID Card
25. Pan left, from two men showing her ID card to a lady who is with other 2 youngsters
26. Med shot, 2 men walking away
27. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Fritz Lozin, Camp Tapis Vert Manager :
“There is neither sexual violence nor marital violence in the camp. However, there is violence which is linked to the famine. 25 young strong men and I have organized to secure the camp. We are going from door to door; we discuss with the women whether they have been attacked by someone.”
28. Med shot, UNPOL patrols at the camp
29. Med shot, two UNPOL talking to women
30. Med shot, one UNPOL lady talking to people
31. Med shot, two UNPOL from behind walking through camp
32. Wide shot, crowd around UNPOL
33. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Damaris Bagaou Djarmitta, Team leader, Gender Unit, UNPOL MINUSTAH:
“We came to see at least in which situation the women live, to see what kind of problem they face and what kind of solution we can find together with them. Now we asked that there will be a women organization in the camp. Like this, we can speak directly with the women when we come the next time. We don’t need any more an intermediate”.
34. Pan right, Camp Acra
35. Close up, sign “Bureau de gestion”
36. Med shot, women talking in a meeting
37. Close up, 2 women listening
38. Med shot, woman talking
39. Med shot, Haitian women listening
40. Med shot, Haitian woman talking
41. Med shot, group of Haitian women listening
42. SOUNDBITE (French) Melanie Megevand, Protection Officer, ARC:
“It is difficult to say if the cases of violence have been increases since the earthquake, because we had no figures from before to compare with. It is also difficult to say if we have more cases now because we established a confidence and now people are more comfortable to come and talk about their case or if it was a real increase of crime committed.”
43. Med shot, woman talking in front of a board
44. Wide shot, group of women sitting in class room
45. Med shot, woman sitting next to fake hair model
46. Med shot, women listening
47. Close up, hands
48. Close up, nail polish
49. Med shot, woman from behind in class room
50. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Marie Sonie Jopseph, Coordinator, Committee Woman Defense:
“We are working on the gender based violence provided by American Refugee Committee. They are helping us to organize the seminars. That means we teach women to have a job and at the same time we discuss all kind of violence against women such as sexual violence, violence conjugal, and we sensitize them on rape cases and how the women should react on it.”
51. Tilt up, woman sitting in tent with her son
52. Med shot, woman arranging pots in her tent
53. Med shot, children in camp walking towards camera
Approximately 1.3 million people live in eight hundred and sixty-three camps in Port au Prince.
This situation brings many difficulties, especially at the safety level, and there is where women are the most vulnerable. The statistics of national and international NGO’s, the Haitian National Police (HNP) and the United Nations Police (UNPOL) varies. However, they all show an increase in sexual violence against women during the first few months following the 12 January earthquake.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Rape victim:
“I was about to go and see a film at the cinema. On my way, a guy called me. I refused to answer him. He told me: “This is what I don’t like when you girls don’t answer when I am calling you”. Then he came, took my arm and took me to the banana field”.
16 years old and raped in a camp in Port au Prince. Alarmed by an NGO on the spot, the United Nations Police (UNPOL) and the Haitian National Police (HNP) took the case in their hands. The victim received medical care and psychological help. But she doesn’t want to file a complaint out of fear that her aggressors might take revenge on her.
SOUNDBITE (French) Frantz Lerebours, Spokesperson, Haitian National Police:
“Because of the proximity there is promiscuity. If the person is not sensitized, she will not be filing a case. You know, there is stigma that exists around these questions. We are about to break these taboos’. If the woman is not aware of her rights after she got raped she will not go to the police. Sometimes the women are afraid that everyone will know about her case when she is reporting about it.”
Camp Tapis Vert in Cite Soleil is one of the camps where the residents are left on their own, no water, no sanitation, no food, and no lighting.
On 12 January, Guerda Joseph lost her house and her husband. Since then, she is sharing this tent with her six children. Until now, she didn’t experience any violence.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Guerda Joseph, Tapis Vert Camp resident:
“I am here since 6 months, I have no husband anymore, I have nothing. During the day, the Haitian Police is patrolling the camp. But there is also a group of young men who are walking the whole day and even at night. When the police are not here, they are present – even when it rains.”
Two thousand five hundred families live in misery, but the camp inhabitants created their own security.
Twenty five voluntary young men are identified by their ID cards. They supervise the three areas of the camp. These young people meet the inhabitants and discuss with them their problems.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Fritz Lozin, Camp Tapis Vert Manager:
“There is neither sexual violence nor marital violence in the camp. However, there is violence which is linked to the famine. 25 young strong men and I have organized to secure the camp. We are going from door to door; we discuss with the women whether they have been attacked by someone.”
The UNPOL have also reinforced their manpower to ensure a better safety in the largest and most problematic camps in Port au Prince. Currently they have a presence in three camps, while they regularly patrol the others. Once a week they also come to the camp Tapis Vert where they meet women and children.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Damaris Bagaou Djarmitta, Team leader, Gender Unit, UNPOL MINUSTAH:
“We came to see at least in which situation the women live, to see what kind of problem they face and what kind of solution we can find together with them. Now we asked that there will be a women organization in the camp. Like this, we can speak directly with the women when we come the next time. We don’t need any more an intermediate”.
Twenty-five thousand people are living at Camp Acra in Delmas 32 in Port au Prince. Here, the women already organized themselves in an association. They speak about their problems during meetings with the NGO American Refugee Committee (ARC) which manages this camp. There is no lighting, and police patrols are missing. More and more the camp receives women seeking assistance who live outside the camp in the close neighborhood. There are still cases of sexual and domestic violence that are registered by ARC.
SOUNDBITE (French) Melanie Megevand, Protection Officer, ARC:
“It is difficult to say if the cases of violence have been increases since the earthquake, because we had no figures from before to compare with. It is also difficult to say if we have more cases now because we established a confidence and now people are more comfortable to come and talk about their case or if it was a real increase of crime committed.”
As violence existed already before the earthquake, the women of the Acra Camp stress the sensitizing of the gender based violence (GBV). This is done in the so called shelters during the beauty classes.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Marie Sonie Jopseph, Coordinator, Committee Woman Defense:
“We are working on the gender based violence provided by American Refugee Committee. They are helping us to organize the seminars. That means we teach women to have a job and at the same time we discuss all kind of violence against women such as sexual violence, violence conjugal, and we sensitize them on rape cases and how the women should react on it.”
The complex situation in the camps didn’t help to decrease the violence made to women in Haiti. But it made this subject more open to be discussed by many people. And sensitizing is a first step to fight the violence made to the women.
