30697: Selby (comment): Stats on sexual assault (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lynn Selby <lselby@mail.utexas.edu>

SOFA and Kay Fanm collect numbers on the sexual assault and violence
against women that bring women to their reception centers to seek help
and shelter.  "The Lancet" is a peer-reviewed journal and articles
submitted undergo a rigorous process of review, however partisan
co-author Athena Kolbe (Lyn Duff) may be (note that Wayne State
University faculty member Dr. Hutson would have been the Principle
Investigator for this study and that "The Lancet" reviewed the case and
stood by the publication in a February 2007 "Clarification").  Hutson
and Kolbe do not cite SOFA or Kay Fanm reports, but do bring in other
sources to address the period of the study 2004-2006, such as
publications by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Thomas
Griffin (University of Miami School of Law human rights investigation).
So there are numbers and data available in Haiti, and there could be a
productive discussion to try to achieve some kind of consensus.  A
critical discussion of sources available in Haiti through service
providers and human rights organizations based there would have rendered
a better overview in "The Lancet" but this was not the primary objective
of the article, which was to evaluate the data the authors collected
through the survey method.  A critical analysis of RNDDH, CARLI, SOFA,
Kay Fanm, etc. publications would enable us as as readers to think how
these different sources of information engage with one another and conflict.

I would appreciate discussing directly or in a smaller group forum
through e-mail this issue with anyone who has read closely "The Lancet"
article and some other sources available (either in English, French,
Haitian, or Spanish), and are concerned about how these sources may
dialog with one another and methodological issues.  I am trained as a
social anthropologist and would appreciate the input of people who can
comment on methodologies from a social scientific perspective, and what
kinds of conclusions can be reasonably drawn from human rights reports
for a larger picture.  I have access to some SOFA  published in the last
year or so and would be happy to share access to any of the other often
cited human rights reports.  I know that Alterpresse releases many of
the Haitian NGO publications/press statements, and that this may be a
good source to select Haitian NGO-authored summaries. I have not done a
systematic review of this, however. The English sources I have easy to
send PDF copies include the following:

Amnesty International. 2003. /Haiti, abuse of human rights:  political
violence as the 200th anniversary of independence approaches/. Amnesty
International AMR 36/007/2003.

---. 2004. /Haiti, perpetrators of past abuses threaten human rights and
the reestablishment of the rule of law/. Amnesty International AMR
36/013/2004.

Bhatia, P., and B. S. Litman. 2005. /Keeping the peace in Haiti?  An
assessment of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti using
compliance with its prescribed mandate as a barometer for success/.
Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and the Centro de Justiça
Global.

Griffin, T. M. 2004. /Summary report of Haiti human rights
delegation--March 29 to April 5, 2004/. National Lawyers Guild.

---. 2005. /Haiti human rights investigation:  November 11-21, 2004/.
University of Miami School of Law, Center for the Study of Human Rights.

Horton, R., and W. Summerskill. 2007. Clarification: human rights abuse
and other criminal violations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. /The lancet/
369:355-356.

Human Rights Watch. 2004. /Haiti:  recycled soldiers and paramilitaries
on the march/. Human Rights Watch.

Kolbe, A. R., and R. A. Hutson. 2006. Human rights abuse and other
criminal violations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti: a random survey of
households. /The lancet/ 368:864-873.

National Lawyers Guild. 2004. Summary report of phase II of National
Lawyers Guild delegation to Haiti April 12-19, 2004.18.

 Please e-mail me directly at lselby@mail.utexas.edu.  Thanks.