CIAO DATE: 02/2011

Security After the Quake? Addressing Violence and Rape in Haiti

January 2011

United States Institute of Peace

Abstract

Nine months after Haiti’s destructive earthquake, criminal violence generally and gender-based violence in particular in Port-au-Prince’s IDP camps have marred the country’s reconstruction efforts. This violence occurs within an overall climate of political instability, which is complicated by 1.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs); inadequate resources to remove extensive and pervasive rubble; threatening weather patterns and the risk of endemic disease; and the lack of adequate law enforcement. The most prevalent types of gender-based violence in post-quake Haiti are rape and sexual exploitation.

Resource link: Security After the Quake? Addressing Violence and Rape in Haiti [PDF] - 220K