PORT\u002DAU\u002DPRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Nadia hushes the crying 3\u002Dmonth\u002Dold baby swaddled in her arms, gently planting kisses on her forehead.
She was 19, not ready to be a mother. But the young Haitian’s life changed when she was walking home from class on the dusty streets of a gang-controlled area of Haiti’s capital last year.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
The woman offered only the name of Nadia, which is not her real one, to The Associated Press, which does not identify survivors of sexual violence. “They’re running out of tools to control people,” said Renata Segura, deputy director for Latin America and the Caribbean for International Crisis Group. “They extort, but there’s only so much money that can be extorted from people that are really poor. This is the one thing they have they can inflict on the population.”Article content
Helen La Lime, U.N. special envoy in Haiti, told the Security Council in late January that the gangs employ sexual violence to “destroy the social fabric of communities,” particularly in zones controlled by rival gangs.Compounding that is severe underreporting, making it difficult for any authority to grasp the full extent of the damage. Women fear gangs will seek revenge on them and trust Haitian police just about as much.
“Sexual violence is a way to paralyze, to scare people. The minute there’s an increase in sexual violence, everyone stops moving, people don’t go to work because they’re scared,” Michel said. “It’s a weapon, it’s a way to send a message.”
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