Haiti Two Weeks After: Grim for Women and Children

By Erika Guevara-Rosas, Program Director for Americas

The situation in Haiti remains extremely dire, with thousands killed and injured. Official estimates have put the death toll at over 200,000 people killed and over 1.5 million homeless. As relief work continues, the numbers are likely to worsen. The Haitian government has shown its inability to respond to the emergency, and the increasing presence of armed groups is destabilizing any efforts to protect people from violence, particularly women and children. On the other hand, the US’ emphasis on military coordination and security is raising questions as to whether this is a ‘humanitarian operation or an invasion.’ The US is also being heavily criticized for running a poor coordinating operation in terms of aid distribution. The assistance that is currently being distributed is being delivered to large-scale camps rather than small isolated areas where hundreds are still awaiting assistance. The military component of the US mission is overshadowing the civilian functions of rescuing a desperate and impoverished population, as well as providing protection with a human-rights lens.

There has been a lot of concern that the humanitarian aid is currently lacking in gender-sensitivity – not just in terms of what is being distributed, but also how it is distributed. In isolated areas, the aid is distributed by air, leaving women and children vulnerable to abuse. The reports we have heard so far about the plight of women and girls on the ground affirms our fear that risk of gender and sexual violence escalates during times of such grave crisis. It is very important to give visibility to the needs of women and girls, as well as to the importance of including women in the decision-making of all reconstruction efforts and aid distribution.

The resource mobilization to respond to the tragedy has been impressive. UN agencies, governments, cooperative agencies, relief organizations, individual donors and other actors are raising funds from all over the world to address the immediate needs of Haitians. Equally important and impressive has been the response of international women’s movements. Feminist and women’s organizations from around the world are sending support or offering technical assistance to help Haitian women with the reconstruction of their communities. The Latin American and Caribbean women’s movements have quickly mobilized resources to prioritize the distribution of gender-sensitive assistance, as well as to revitalize the Haitian women’s movement. While the response has been encouraging, the needs are increasing and the conditions are increasingly chaotic. Thousands of Haitians, mainly women and children are crossing the border to seek assistance on the Dominican side or are trying to leave in small boats, risking their lives in order to get to the US. The government of Dominican Republic estimates that more than 10,000 people are already across the border, where conditions are not suitable to establish camps with basic services.

Besides the much-needed humanitarian aid, we need to ensure that long-term support for the reconstruction phase and to protect women and children from violence, as well as support to ensure that women will be participate in decision making are crucial in the following months. The Latin American and Caribbean feminist movement is coordinating efforts in an unprecedented manner. Coalitions to respond to the crisis, e-mail lists, blogs, joint statements and other actions have been established to coordinate and organize long-term strategies to support women and children.

With support from the GFW, the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) is undertaking an assessment mission in coordination with the National Organization for Research on Women in Haiti to determine the needs of women and girls. During the visit, CAFRA will be meeting with international agencies and other relief organizations to advocate for gender-sensitive aid and distribution. CAFRA’s members plan to monitor and report on the operations of these humanitarian relief organizations, as well as on the intervention of other governments, including the US. This week, a group of feminist activists from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will meet in Santo Domingo to design joint strategies and actions in support to the feminist and women’s organizations in Haiti.

Feminist activists from Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico are also coming together to inaugurate the Feminist International Camp, which has been established under the leadership of GFW grantee partner Colectiva Mujer y Salud and el Centro de Investigacion para la Accion Femenina (CIPAF) in Jemani, the border area between Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Our advisors and a lot of our grantee partners in the region are also mobilizing resources for women in Haiti. For instance, the Catholics for Free Choice in Cordova, Argentina are sending $5,000 to support the Feminist Camp. The Consortium of Latin American Women’s Funds are also raising funds to send to women’s organizations in Haiti. The LAC Health Network, Las Petateras and the Nicaraguan Women’s Autonomous Movement, among others, are also sending resources through the Feminist Camp.

We have channelled a $20,000 grant through our sister organization MADRE for emergency humanitarian assistance, including the provision of health services. We are also supporting CAFRA’s assessment mission to Port-au-Prince, with a grant of $7,000. We will be supporting the Feminist International Camp with a $20,000 grant for advocacy efforts to address the needs of Haitian women, as well as to strengthen Haitian women’s organizations. As soon as our grantee partners and other women’s organizations in Haiti have the capacity to receive funding and to establish their operations, we will be prioritizing our support in order to ensure long-term reconstruction.

Given our commitment to mobilize more resources for our grantee partners to respond to the crisis, in coordination with AWID, we have been contacting other sister organizations, networks and foundations in the US, Canada and Europe to ensure funding for the Feminist Camp and women’s organizations in Haiti. For instance, here in the US, INCITE: Women of Color against Violence has joined our efforts to mobilize resources through our Crisis Fund.

Currently, various members of the Global Fund Network, including our grantees, advisors and donors want to donate through the Global Fund, and would like to ensure that their donations are being directed to women’s groups in Haiti. We have also received requests from grantee partners and the women’s funds in the region to serve as fiscal sponsors of the Feminist Camp, so that they can provide support in a more effective way. It is important to clarify in our Web site that all donations through the Crisis Fund will be used for our long-term support to women’s groups in Haiti, and that this funding will be on top of our budget for the Americas Program. Given the unprecedented resource mobilization in the region, it is also important to translate into Spanish our Crisis Fund section, as many of our grantee partners and advisors are referring people in their countries to our site.

As the global media focuses on post-earthquake relief, we urge mainstream and alternative media to have a strong gender lens and ensure they highlight how the women’s movement in the region is proactively responding to the crisis.

Last week’s CNN news report covering the death of three well-known feminists by reporter Jessica Rabitz was welcomed by the women’s movement in Haiti and in the rest of the region for its gender lens. The report has also encouraged the US public to be more proactively interested in the critical role played by the women’s movement in the country especially as Haiti gears itself towards reconstruction. In the coming weeks, we will coordinate with US and global media to cover reports and updates from the feminist solidarity camp being set up by various Global Fund grantees in Haiti.