The world must not abandon the women and girls of Haiti

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem

Every day brings new horrors for women and girls in Port-au-Prince, as violence has reached terrifying levels in recent months. Residents of the Haitian capital and surrounding areas live in fear as armed gangs rape, kidnap and murder with impunity.
 
Many homes have been burned or ransacked, forcing thousands of women and children to flee to temporary displacement sites outside the capital. Conditions in these sites are deplorable, with women and girls at heightened risk of sexual exploitation and violence and with people struggling to secure food, clean water and other basic necessities. Nearly half of the country’s population is facing acute food insecurity.
 
UNFPA is alarmed by recent attacks on hospitals and health facilities. Fewer than half of health facilities in the capital are fully functional, and those which are functional risk running out of essential supplies. For the estimated 3,000 women who are currently pregnant in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, limited maternal health care facilities make giving birth even more dangerous. This in a country where already 1,500 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth every year. It is estimated that just 3 percent of rape survivors receive medical assistance within 72 hours of being assaulted. Most suffer in silence.
 
Increased funding and safe access are urgently needed so that lifesaving services and supplies can be delivered to all those in need. UNFPA has remained in the capital since the beginning of the crisis. With the Pan American Health Organization, UNFPA is supporting three hospitals in Port-au-Prince to provide maternal health services, including emergency obstetric care. UNFPA and partners have provided medicines and supplies, including for the clinical management of rape, to 13 health facilities in the capital and surrounding region. We have deployed mobile clinics to seven displacement sites to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health, reaching close to 4,500 people so far. We are also running hotlines for survivors of sexual assault, as well as centres that provide psychosocial support, and have distributed thousands of dignity kits containing hygiene and other essential supplies to the most vulnerable.
 
With the Transitional Presidential Council now in place, the international community must work with and for the people of Haiti to restore public security and the rule of law, rebuild the health system and establish robust services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission to support the National Police in addressing the security situation is critical in this regard.
 
There is an urgent need for lasting protection solutions in Haiti that integrate the rights and needs of women, girls and all civilians. The appalling and indiscriminate violence against women and girls must stop. What women and girls need is peace and security, the assurance that the world will not abandon them, and support to build a brighter future.