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30423: White (reply) Re: 30438: Sexual Violence Advocacy (fwd)





From: Randall White <raw@haitiaction.org>

Régine,

There are many different issues and agendas that are awakened when someone attempts to take direct action in a situation like this. That is what — I think — you are referring to when you invoke the term "delicate." For my part, violence against women is not a delicate issue, and the victims should expect to obtain justice in a timely and reaffirming fashion.

It's not clear, but it appears that the victim did contact the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince shortly after the incident. While it is true that the police in Haiti should be contacted first, I don't believe that it is true that the U.S, Embassy has to wait for anyone before acting in some fashion. If a U.S. citizen is involved in violence against women, there are some* in the Port au Prince office that have a low tolerance for that sort of abuse — especially, when rape is involved — and they can be quite "proactive" where it comes to getting results.

What many Haitians may not realize. This is also true for any woman regardless of citizenship. A Haitian woman can contact the U.S. Embassy directly — when a U.S. citizen is a perpetrator — and expect to get results. For my limited understanding of "purpose and mission" this is one of the areas that our foreign embassies are supposed to deal with. What happens in the real world may be different…

By now, the folks on this list who do have an active interest in this area should have contacted you directly with contacts and relevant advice (I would be surprised if that weren't true). If not, feel free to contact me — off list — and I'll "walk" some of them down.

However, if she hasn't already, this victim should contact the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince. If anyone is in a similar situation and aren't getting satisfactory results from the U.S. Embassy, you might want to try being a bit more persistent and even consider turning up the volume and heat a bit until things "get moving."

Whatever happens, this perpetrator should not feel comfortable about hanging out in Haiti.

*[would it be too much to ask that someone, who knows better, post a clarification stating that "everyone at the U.S. Embassy" has a low tolerance for U.S. citizens victimizing women on other countries?]

Quote from message 30438: << I write to you with seeking help with a very delicate and time sensitive topic. Someone very close to me was raped a few months ago during her trip to Haiti. She lives in the US and had not been to Haiti since childhood. The perpetrator is a US American man who has been living in Haiti. Although he is an American citizen, because she was raped abroad she has to file a report and deal with police in Port-au-Prince before anything can be done in the US. She has been dealing with the Haitian police, but with much difficulty. >>

RAW
raw@HaitiAction.org