Announcement: New 'Beyond Shock'' GBV Progress Report Released

The Haiti PotoFanm+Fi Coalition and the PotoFi Haiti Girls Initiative are pleased to announce the release this week of two major reports that provide significant updates on progress made fighting sexual violence in Haiti by grassroots organizations. The comprehensive 'Beyond Shock' GBV progress report confirms and challenges earlier media reports on sexual violence in Haiti.

The companion PotoFi research survey of over 2000 pregnant teenagers reveals that a generation of Haitian girls have become pregnant from rapes and from trading sex to survive -- specific gender aftershocks of the earthquake that call for urgent attention from stakeholders.

BEYOND SHOCK GBV PROGRESS REPORT 2010-2012 (Abridged Version)

'Beyond Shock: Charting the Landscape of Sexual Violence in Post-Quake Haiti - Progress, Challenges and Emerging Trends' 2010-2012. The report was reported by Haitian and US members of the PotoFanm+Fi team and written by author and journalist Anne-christine d'Adesky. Haitian author Edwidge Danticat wrote a foreword for the report. Nadia Todres contributed a special photo essay on Girls in Haiti's Camps.

An abridged version of the report (150 pps) in English can be viewed and downloaded in PDF format here.http://potofi.org/2012/12/01/beyond-shock-abridged-report/

The full report will be published as a book in early 2013 and offers a more comprehensive picture of progress across various key sectors of Haiti's recovery since the earthquake of 2010 as this relates to sexual violence as well as profiles of key leaders in this growing grassroots movement.

The report will be available in French soon and posted on this website.

THE POTO FI FIELD SURVEY OF GBV, TEENS AND EARLY PREGANCY - FINAL RESULTS

The second document is a Summary Report of the final results of the  PotoFi Field Study of GBV, Early Pregnancy, and Adolescents -- a participatory research survey of over 2000 adolescent
girls conducted with seven partner grassroots organizations. The final results confirm preliminary findings released in December 2011, showing a very high percentage of pregnant teenage girls stated that rape was the source of their unwanted pregnancies, while other girls had begun trading sex for shelter and food after the earthquake. The majority of these girls have had limited access to post-rape health services, apart from some counseling, often from lay counselors. They are suffering from acute food insecurity and remain vulnerable to sexual violence linked to homelessness and the current economic picture nearly three years after the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

The survey can be downloaded at: http://potofi.org/2012/12/14/potofi-gbv-field-survey-summary-report/

Both documents are also posted on our sister PotoFi Haiti Girls Initiative website at:
www.potofi.org.

We greatly appreciate your sharing this information and the links to our reports with colleagues in the field and the Haitian press.

Thank you.

- Anne-christine d'Adesky
Report Editor,
Project Coordinator, PotoFanm+Fi
email: potofanm@gmail.com

Rapport du RNDDH sur le viol de l’adolescent de Port-Salut

Rapport du RNDDH sur le viol à Port-Salut d'un adolescent de 19 ans à Port-Salut par des casques bleus de la mission de l'ONU en Haiti (MINUSTAH)  - Radio Kiskeya

http://ht.ly/6mFgR

IACHR Sets Unprecedented Recommendations for Haitian Government to Address Wave of Sexual Violence in Displacement Camps

MADRE | CCR | IJDH | BAI | IACHR Joint Press Release

January 4, 2011, New York, NY — Issuing unprecedented recommendations to the Haitian government, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted a legal request submitted in October by a group of advocates and attorneys for displaced Haitian women including MADRE, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Women’s Link Worldwide, and CUNY School of Law. The IACHR’s groundbreaking recommendations request that the Haitian government take immediate measures to prevent sexual violence against women and girls in displacement camps.

MESSAGE DE LA SOLIDARITE FANM AYISYÈN - SOFA A L’OCCASION DU NOUVEL AN

Nous avons vu les sept couleurs de l’Arc en Ciel

Nous avons pleuré toutes les larmes de nos corps

« Pour tous ces noms endormis au seuil de nos mémoires »

Nous avons erré à la recherche de nos proches

En humant les effluves émanant de la ville

Nous nous sommes perdues dans les dédales de nos maisons métamorphosées

Nous avons écouté tous les sons de cloche : de ceux qui regrettaient et de ceux qui promettaient

En guise de promesses tenues, nous nous sommes abreuvées aux sources polluées d’excréments

Et nos doigts ont touché à pleines mains les squelettes décharnés de nos cholériques

Haiti, Women, and the Elections

 

SPECIAL REPORT: Haiti, Women, and the Elections: Following Africa's Lead

© Cameron Davidson

October 15, 2010

As Haiti gears up for its November 28 elections, World Pulse talked to dozens of women on the ground to find out what’s needed to rebuild the post-earthquake nation.

BY SPECIAL REPORT EDITOR AND POTOFANM MEMBER ANNE-CHRISTINE D'ADESKY WITH JACOB KUSHNER
In January, World Pulse teamed up with longtime journalist and regular contributor Anne-christine d’Adesky to spotlight the response of Haiti’s women to the earthquake. We’ve also been happy to provide a digital home on PulseWire for PotoFanm+Fi, a Haiti advocacy group that formed post-quake to support women and girls in Haiti.

Today, we’re featuring a Special Report on Women, Haiti, and the Elections—a package of articles, poems, and photographs that capture what women leaders are doing and how they envision change. This is the first installment in the series. 

Full story on WorldPulse

Conversations for a Better World Diary of a Survivor Series

Just added Carine Exantus' Diary of a Survivor in Haiti blog series at Conversations for a Better world to our Haitian Women Bloggers list. Please check it out.

A Special Father's Day & Call to Action: Help End Violence Against Women & Girls

DIMANCH 27 JEN | SUNDAY JUNE 27
 

Greetings from PotoFanm+Fi! We are a global solidarity initiative launched after the January 12th earthquake to support Haitian women and girls and grassroots organizations to rebuild Haiti. We are inviting you to join us today in honoring Haiti’s fathers – and sons.

We are also issuing a special Father’s Day Call To Action to Haitian men and boys to become vocal, active leaders in ending rape and violence against women and girls in Haiti…

A National Commemoration: Across Haiti and the Diaspora, leaders have issued a Haiti Father’s Day call for a global commemoration of fathers and sons who died on January 12th – and those who are living. You are invited to join Haitians in a moment of silence to honor Haitian fathers and sons who died that day, and to honor those who bravely worked to help others survive the tragedy.

We add our prayers and thoughts to the many families who are grieving for their cherished fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and sons. We give special honor to the many beloved sons whose lives and futures were tragically cut short on January 12th. Haiti’s children are the future –the loss of so many young boys and men leaves a hole in Haiti’s heart.

IN MEMORIAM*
There are far too many Haitian men and boys who perished in the earthquake to cite here, though all deserve to be remembered and missed. Today, we honor public figures including Port-au-Prince Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and the vicar general, Msgr. Charles Benoit and church priests who perished; Hubert Deronceray, a political leader and three-time candidate for President; and popular opposition leader Micha Gaillard. We also honor Jacques Jean Wilbert, a senator from the Plateau Central and Louis Michelet, a senator from l’Artibonite; legal judges Me Roc Cadet and Jean-Claude Rigeur; Patrick Isidor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Pierre-Richard Jean-Pierre , head of the Ministry of Culture and Communications, and host of the national television literary program.

 

We honor the physicians Willy Verrier, Serge Cinéas, Vladimir Dossous, Pierre Alix Laroche, Chéro Germeil, Buissereth Lascaze and Jacques Célestin. We honor the engineer-agronomists Jean Fritz Boutin, Arsène Constant, Kernisan Chéry, Manès Lainé, Jackson Robert, Antonio Pierre-Lys, Christele Destin, Jude Zéphyr, Julien Romain, and Fruck Dorsainvil.

We honor  academics including the many who died in the collapse of Haiti's Faculté de Linguistique Appliquée (FLA) including 'Creolist' Pierre Vernet, the dean of the linguistics department  at FLA, and vice-dean Wesner Merant, and professors Yves Alvare and Guercy Antoine; Alix Auguste, director of the UCCADDE; professor Serge Petit-Frère , Jacques Valbrun of ASCUHADO; and Louis Lucrece Larosilière, head of the Centre Technique Saint-Gerard; and Junior Delinois, a linguist.

We honor musicians, including well-known promoter Joubert Charles; lead singer of the group Phantom; Ronald Rodrigue; rappers Young Cliff, Jimmy O and Evenson; and "Shacan Lord" Francis of the group Gasoline Clan; the drummer Peterson Louis; bassist Smith St. Felix; and members of the bands Djakout Mizik, Kreyol La, Nu Look, Krezy Mizik, Mika Ben, Mizik Mizik, and Carimi.

We honor the many writers and artists including Haitian-Quebecois writer George Anglade; the artist Louko of the Atis Rezistans collective; and painters Raoul Matthieu and Alix Roy.

We honor journalists Wanel Fils of Radio Galaxie; Henry Claude Pierre of Radio Magic 9; and Belot Senatus, a cameraman for Radio Tele Guinen. We honor Arthur De Mettéis, a columnist at Le Nouvelliste newspaper.

In sports, we honor the many players, coaches, referees, and representatives of the Caribbean Football Union including coaches Alix Avin, Gérard Cineus, Antoine Craan, and Jean Yves Labaze.

In business, we honor Pierre-Richard Perrault, an auto dealer.

Friends of Haiti: We also honor the many non-Haitians who died while in service to Haiti, including the hundreds of UN members including: UN MINUSTAH Head of Mission in Haiti Hédi Annabi; his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa; Supt. Doug Coates, Andrew Grene, Sgt. Mark Gallagher and their colleagues. We also honor the dynamic US-born artist and transgendered activist Flo McGarrell, director of FOSAJ in Jacmel.

A FATHER'S DAY POEM

In honor of their lives and memories, and for the many fathers who we have lost, we are offering a small excerpt below of a poem in French by Haitian writer Marc-A. Christophe, Professor at the University of the District of Columbia, about his father – and about fathers. (Reprint courtesy of the author. Source: ‘Le Pain de L’Exil (1988). English translation by PotoFanm+Fi)
Retour D'Age
(for Norbert)