Young girls and women living in Haiti's displacement camps since
last year's earthquake have been particularly vulnerable to sexual
violence and abuse with many sources pointing to an increase in
reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the
country.

Data available from police, health facilities as well as
national and international organizations seem to indicate that the
rising numbers are linked to a growing trust between survivors and
the police and service providers as access to services
increase.

Nevertheless, with no prevalence study having been carried out
to determine whether there has been any real increase in SGBV in
the country and victims often unwilling or unable to seek help,
there are few reliable statistics on the issue.

Women and girls are the greatest victims of SGBV in Haiti. Of
the 60 people affected by SGBV helped by IOM since 2010, 97 per
cent were women and girls, with men representing the remaining 3
per cent.

Fears of reprisal attacks mean victims do not file charges. Rape
has only been criminalized since 2005 and poor training of police,
lawyers and judges makes it extremely difficult to secure
convictions.  It is also difficult for survivors to acquire
the medical certificates needed to win convictions in court.

Although there are currently about seven institutions in the
greater Port-au-Prince area providing medical services for victims,
most of the SGBV survivors interviewed by IOM said they had little
idea who to report cases to or where to seek medical
assistance.  Many did not have the wherewithal to reach health
facilities or were afraid to go alone.

Sexual abuse of child victims of trafficking has also come to
light during IOM's work. Since January this year, IOM has
identified close to 400 cases of trafficked children living in the
displacement camps in extreme poverty, with about 50 per cent of
them having suffered physical and sexual abuse by the time they
were rescued.

More cases have been uncovered in the most poverty-stricken
areas of Port-au-Prince and in the provinces where so many victims
of the January 2010 earthquake fled. In addition 30 trafficked
Haitian children were identified and rescued in the neighboring
Dominican Republic.

Working to lessen the vulnerability of women and girls including
child victims of trafficking to SGBV in the camps, IOM is using USD
1 million of funding from the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida) to help prevent and respond to SGBV in 20
priority displacement sites across Port-au-Prince's seven
communes.

Solar lights in key public areas such as entrances, water and
sanitation facilities and community spaces will be installed by IOM
to help reduce the risk of attack. Skills training programmes are
also being developed jointly with national partners so that young
Haitian women are more self sufficient and less vulnerable to
victimization.

IOM efforts to further protect victims of trafficking are also
being scaled up with USD 1.6 m of funding from the US government's
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and UNICEF
which will allow  the Organization to assist about 1,000
people.

"The earthquake exacerbated pre-existing abuses in Haiti and IOM
is working with its local partners to prevent another generation of
women and girls being victimized, now that they are living cheek by
jowl in crowded, unsanitary, poorly lit conditions in camps," says
IOM's Chief of Mission in Haiti, Luca Dall'Oglio.

An estimated 680,000 are still living in camps in Haiti since
January 2010.

For more information please contact:

Yolice Quero

IOM Haiti

Tel: + 509 37014953

E-mail: "mailto:yquero@iom.int">yquero@iom.int

Tobias Metzner

IOM Haiti

Tel: + 509 37011-94

E-mail: "mailto:tmetzner@iom.int">tmetzner@iom.int

or

Leonard Doyle

IOM Haiti

Tel: + 509 3702 5066

E-mail: "mailto:ldoyle@iom.int">ldoyle@iom.int