This article argues for a rights-based approach to assistance in Haiti which is a form of developmental aid that strengthens the public justice systems in the developing world. As traditional legal assistance to marginalized communities tends to be top-down and exclusionary, much like the traditional distribution of humanitarian aid, human rights lawyers in Haiti seek to apply the rights-based approach to their lawyering – providing “legal empowerment” as an alternative to “legal aid”.

While gender-based violence is not a new phenomenon in Haiti, the aftermath of the January 12, 2010 earthquake further exposed the vulnerability of Haitian women and girls to gender-based violence and the limited possibilities for women to evince a judicial response to gender-specific violations of the law. Drawing from the experiences of Haitian lawyers and women’s rights advocates, this paper will examine women’s barriers to accessing justice in Haiti by drawing on actual examples of gender-based violence at each step of the investigatory process under the Haitian justice system.