Le Gouvernement de la République d’Haïti, le Système des Nations Unies et l’Union européenne lancent, ce jeudi 29 octobre 2020, l’Initiative Spotlight en Haïti.

The number of people affected by natural disasters is increasing. These natural disasters hinder long-term development, and have substantial impacts on the lives of those affected. While both women and men are affected by natural disasters, women tend to suffer disproportionately to their male counterparts. It is the structural inequalities women face that render them more vulnerable to natural disasters. Corresponding to the increase in disaster impacts is the number and size of humanitarian organizations in responding to affected populations.

Au cours de la mission des Nations unies en Haïti, une équipe policière spécialisée a été déployée pour la prévention et la sanction des violences basées sur le genre. Ces dernières ayant fortement augmenté suite au séisme de 2010, la Police nationale d’Haïti n’était pas en mesure de lutter contre ce phénomène. Ce rapport traite de l’efficacité de cette nouvelle opération, dirigée et financée par la Norvège, à l’intérieur d’une mission de paix.

Peacekeeping missions have been marred by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) against local community members. However, there is limited research on how SEA against women/girls versus men/boys is perceived in peacekeeping host societies. In 2017 we collected micro-narratives in Haiti and then conducted a thematic analysis to understand how peacekeeper-perpetrated SEA was perceived by local community members comparing SEA against women/girls versus SEA against men/boys.

Haiti’s instability at the turn of the millennium demanded unprecedented changes towards community-based peacekeeping strategies. While deemed successful by some in reducing actualised violence, the UN Peace Support Operation, MINUSTAH, was wrought with allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and mired by the inadvertent introduction of cholera. To understand the host community’s experiences with MINUSTAH, data was collected around seven UN bases from 10 locations in Haiti between June and August 2017.

Women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become targets for increasing development funding in recent years, a bigger slice in a bigger overall pie. In addition to being a consequence of gradual shifts within development orthodoxy regarding gender, this targeting of women's NGOs results from two recent trends, gender "mainstreaming" and the scale-up of funding to combat HIV/AIDS.

This report considers and informs on the real situation of women’s rights under the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”) focusing on particular issues in Haiti. The issues addressed are societal discrimination and widespread sexual violence against women, impunity for perpetrators of gender based violence and sex trafficking, exploitation of prostitution and sexual abuse by peacekeepers. The issues addressed in this report were chosen due to the specific focus and expertise of the organizations that drafted the report.

This report is submitted by MADRE (an ECOSOC accredited NGO), KOFAVIV FAVILEK, KONAMAVID, Women’s Link Worldwide, and the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, City University of New York School of Law. It focuses on the epidemic of gender-based violence in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in post-earthquake Haiti.