Les femmes et les filles haïtiennes subissent de multiples formes de violence à la frontière dominicale haïtienne, que ce soit en tant que migrantes, commerçantes transfrontalières ou personnes déplacées à la suite du tremblement de terre de 2010 en Haïti. Les médias internationaux ont attiré l'attention sur les violences sexuelles contre les femmes dans les camps de déplacés internes en Haïti, détournant involontairement le regard du public d'autres scénarios tout aussi graves, comme la situation des femmes et des filles qui traversent la frontière.

Haitian women and girls experience multiple forms of violence on the Dominican-Haitian border whether as migrants, cross-border traders, or displaced persons following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. International media have drawn attention to sexual violence against women in internal displacement camps in Haiti, unintentionally diverting the public gaze from other, equally grave scenarios, such as the situation of women and girls who cross the border.

The 2010 earthquake and cholera outbreak in Haiti have given a push to women’s migration to the Dominican Republic, and risk of being trafficked.

The migration of Haitian women to the Dominican Republic is part of the so-called “feminization of migrations” caused by changes in labour markets as well as the precarious situation of women and their families in the neighbouring country of origin. The sequel to the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010 has aggravated gender violence, in the makeshift camps in which hundreds of thousands of displaced persons are still living a year later, according to the reporting of human rights organizations, international organizations, women’s organizations and ordinary citizens.

Crossing the Dominican–Haitian border in greater numbers than previously, Haitian women and girls, many of whom have been forcibly displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, make multiple decisions about where to go and whom to trust. Thus they are in contact with informal scouts and other agents, while seeking employment as vendors in the frontier market, domestic workers in private homes, and sex workers in brothels in the Dominican Republic.

Hace más de una década, las y los estudiosos de las migraciones en América Latina y el Caribe han señalado un nuevo giro en las relaciones transfronterizas internacionales terrestres como espacios de convivencia y cooperación, las cuales han registrado menos conflicto que antes. Sin embargo, aunque la frontera dominico–haitiana se encuentra en plena transición, sigue ostentando niveles de violencia dirigida particularmente a grupos vulnerables y, en consecuencia, viciando la seguridad ciudadana.