Sixteen-year-old Blanche left her grandmothers’ home in Carrefour Feuilles at dusk. She went to a nearby square to do her homework. Like many other schoolchildren living in parts of Port-au-Prince which have no electricity supply, she was going to do her homework by the light of one of the few street lamps in her neighborhood that were still working.

As she was studying, a man came up to her. She asked him to go away. He left, but returned shortly after with other men who pointed their guns at Blanche while the first man ripped her clothes and raped her.

Eventually, some neighbors helped Blanche to get back home. Blanche’s grandmother took her to a medical clinic, but discouraged her from reporting the attack to the police. She believed that nothing could be done because Blanche did not know the names of her attackers. Neither the man who raped Blanche nor those who helped him have ever been punished for their crimes.

A story from another Haitian girl

“I resisted, then he punched me, and threatened me with a gun. I was exhausted and scared, so he raped me. Later I found out that I have become pregnant. I’m not going to the police because I’m afraid he'll take revenge or even kill me; he showed his gun when he raped me. My father refuses to see me because my big belly makes him feel ashamed in front of his friends. My mother even asks me to pay for my food, my sister tells me to get water by myself.  Last week I was sick, my mother took me to MSF but she asked me to pay her back the transport money. I’m so sad. How could I possibly take care of the baby when it’s born?”
A 16-year-old describes her rape by a family friend and the devastating consequences of an unwanted pregnancy in a society which continues to blame and ostracize victims of rape.

More facts:

1.    Violence, and in particular sexual violence, against women and girls in Haiti is pervasive and widespread.
2.    More than half of the reported rapes are girls age of 18 or under.
3.    Rape is used as a weapon by gangs throughout the country to terrorize the population.
4.    Victims are often rejected by society and even their family; Support for victims is almost nonexistant.
5.    The stigma of unwanted pregnancy in a country where abortions are illegal drives these girls to resort to, sometimes fatal, self-induced or clandestine abortions.
6.    8% of maternal mortality is due to complications following clandestine abortions.
7.    Under Haitian law, anyone who undergoes an abortion is liable to imprisonment.