In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive Director of international women’s rights organization Equality Now, wrote a powerful article: she reminds readers that gender issues, and the plight unique to the women in Haiti, must be a central component in the response and management of relief and recovery operations. She exposes the terrible extent of women’s silent suffering prior to the disaster, and warns that following the earthquake, they are left disarmed, weakened, and even more vulnerable to violence and injustice.
The statistics are shocking: Kay Fanm, a Haitian women’s rights organization, has estimated that 72 percent of Haitian girls have been raped. It is also estimated that 40 percent of Haitian women are victims of domestic violence. Prior to the earthquake, human trafficking as well as sex tourism was a prosperous business. Now, Taina Bien-Aimé poses a critical question: “Who would ensure [the women’s] protection in the aftermath of the disaster?”
Drawing from the outcome of past disasters Bien-Aimé paints a grim picture of what can happen to women in the aftermath of such a catastrophe. She cites data from the US Agency for International Development which, in 2006, showed a direct link between humanitarian emergencies and increased vulnerability of women and children to both sexual violence and exploitation. Data also indicated that relief efforts are often unsuccessful at accounting for women’s basic needs. Bien-Aimé finds Haiti to be an especially worrisome case. In Asia, governments were on the lookout for increases in human trafficking following the tsunami, but in Haiti, she explains, where the government is in shambles and Haitian police have returned home to their families, she is fearful of what lies ahead for the defenseless and unprotected women.
While Taina Bien-Aimé recognizes the importance of medical supplies, food, and shelter, she reminds us that protecting human rights, and especially the rights of women and children, is equally essential. Since she was young, she was stricken by how while Haiti is a land “inescapably sustained by its women, pillars unrivaled by strength and grit,” it is also a place where violence against women is pervasive in homes and on the streets. Even today, in a time where the nation is united in the face of this disaster, Bien-Aimé describes an all too common scene of men fighting over food and supplies as the women, with babies in their arms, have little chance of making it to the truck.
It is for all these reasons that Bien-Aimé urges the emergency assistance and recovery teams to ensure that security structures are in place to protect those most susceptible to violence, and to secure the participation of Haitian women. In this way, she hopes they can more effectively address the gender issues in disaster relief operations. For an example of the types of measures international relief agencies can adopt, you can check out the Inter-Agency Standard Committee’s Gender Handbook on Humanitarian Action at the following link: http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/.
You can view Taina Bien-Aimé’s opinion piece on the Huffington Post at the following link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taina-bienaime/haitis-women-in-the-after_b_428648.html?view=screen .
