TITLE: SIVIAN YO
LOCATION:HAITI
MEDIA: PHOTOGRAPHS
YEAR: 2016
LOCATION:HAITI
MEDIA: PHOTOGRAPHS
YEAR: 2016
GISELE, 20 years old:
"My cousin told me that I had bad luck. A friend of my parents said that he was a mason and therefore could help remove the bad eye. He took me to an isolated place and asked me to get naked. He touched me and raped me.(..) Now he is hiding, and he is under the protection of a women judge. I want justice to be done.”
HAITI, Port au Prince, July 2016.
MARIE, 21 years old (fake name):
"I want to be photographed in the water. And we need drive out of Port-au-Prince. I would like to pose as someone who wash laundry with a traditional outfit. The guy who raped me threatened me with a gun.” Unidentified children play in the water of Source Zabeth where one of the survivor wanted to be pictured.
HAITI, Source Zabeth, July 2016.
SARAH, 13 years old The mother of Sarah:
"He is someone we knew. He lived in the same area than us in the camp. Now he is nowhere to be found. Our tent was broken and had a big hole in it. he came through it. He rape Sarah. She was on her own. Sarah wants to dance, she loves it but I don't want her to. I feel she is too visible when she dances.”
HAITI, Port-au-Prince, July 2016.
VIVIANE, 22 years old (fake name):
"My best friend found the MSF clinic on the social network. I came straight away. The boy was a friend from school. He took me to his home, to give me one of his book - ''My muse is a man'' -. I kept asking if his dad was there. He said yes. When I arrived the house was empty. He took me to his room and forced me.”
HAITI, Source Zabeth, July 2016.
GISELE 2, 20 years old:
"My cousin told me that I had bad luck. A friend of my parents said that he was a mason and therefore could help remove the bad eye. He took me to an isolated place and asked me to get naked. He touched me and raped me.(..) Now he is hiding, and he is under the protection of a women judge. I want justice to be done.”
HAITI, Port au Prince, July 2016.
STEPHANIE, 52 years old (fake name):
"I had a boyfriend but we were separated. One night, he came to my place and we fought. He threw me on the floor and raped me so brutally that I started to bleed. I did not tell my daughter anything. Now my only worry is actually not the rape, it is to become blind; I have eyes problem. If I can't see anymore, I can't help my family anymore. “
HAITI, Source Zabeth, July 2016.
In Haiti, the
number of young people, especially women and girls, who report experiencing
sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is alarmingly high, especially in the
densely populated capital Port-au-Prince. Yet, the issue is not widely
discussed, and SGBV cases are likely underreported due to stigma and shame, as
well as fear of reprisal from perpetrators or the community. At the same time,
the services that are available for survivors, especially for minors (under the
age of 18), are insufficient and inadequate.
In May 2015, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) opened the Pran Men’m clinic (Creole for ‘take my hand’) in Port-au-Prince that specializes in providing medical and psychological care to survivors of SGBV. The vast majority of the more than 1,300 survivors of sexual violence who have been treated in the clinic are younger than 25 years, and more than half are minors.
97% of patients seen in the MSF Pran Men’m clinic are female – But SGBV also affects men and boys. Given the risk of stigma that contributes to the general underreporting of sexual violence in Haiti, men and boys are even less likely to report incidents or seek the medical care and other support they need after an incident of sexual assault.
Patients younger than 25 years of age represent the vast majority of all survivors that MSF has treated in its Pran Men’m clinic from May 2015 to March 2017 (77%). MSF is particularly concerned by the fact that 53% of patients seen are under 18.
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In May 2015, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) opened the Pran Men’m clinic (Creole for ‘take my hand’) in Port-au-Prince that specializes in providing medical and psychological care to survivors of SGBV. The vast majority of the more than 1,300 survivors of sexual violence who have been treated in the clinic are younger than 25 years, and more than half are minors.
97% of patients seen in the MSF Pran Men’m clinic are female – But SGBV also affects men and boys. Given the risk of stigma that contributes to the general underreporting of sexual violence in Haiti, men and boys are even less likely to report incidents or seek the medical care and other support they need after an incident of sexual assault.
Patients younger than 25 years of age represent the vast majority of all survivors that MSF has treated in its Pran Men’m clinic from May 2015 to March 2017 (77%). MSF is particularly concerned by the fact that 53% of patients seen are under 18.
