• Email
• Print
• Text size: A A A

Meet MADRE's New Partner: KOFAVIV

Supporting and Seeking Justice for Rape Survivors in Haiti

August 1, 2006

Incidents of rape have escalated sharply in Haiti in recent years, alongside the surge in human rights violations and the social and political insecurity that has descended since the forced removal of elected President Aristide on February 29, 2004. Hundreds of women report rapes each month, and many more incidents of violence against women go unreported. To address these grave abuses of women's human rights, MADRE works with KOFAVIV to meet rape survivors' immediate needs and help them create long-term strategies to ensure their safety, health, and well-being.

KOFAVIV (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim; The Commission of Women Victims for Victims) is a Haitian women's organization formed in late 2004 by a group of women from poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince who were raped during the 1991-94 military dictatorship. Social, economic, and political insecurity during the military dictatorship created a climate in which grave human rights violations (including gender-specific violations, most notably rape) were committed with impunity. The women of KOFAVIV organized to prepare a landmark legal case against the perpetrators, including the dictatorship's top military and paramilitary officials, for the systematic use of rape as a political weapon. The process was interrupted by the violence that began on February 29, 2004 with the forced removal of elected President Aristide.

The political and social instability that followed President Aristide's removal sparked a new wave of political violence, lawlessness, and related gender-based crimes. Few services exist for survivors of rape in Port-au-Prince, and organizations providing these services often lack relationships with or the confidence of women from poor neighborhoods. As an organization established by survivors, for survivors, KOFAVIV combines support for individual survivors of rape with grassroots women's organizing and advocacy, to transform the social and political conditions that allow sexual violence against poor women.

MADRE supports I Am One of Many, one of KOFAVIV's projects with rape survivors in Port-au-Prince, most of whom do not read or write, live in substandard housing, and lack access to basic services, including healthcare, clean water, and electricity. Like all violence against women, rape has a devastating effect on the lives of women who already live on the margins of survival. For poor women, there is no refuge from the threat of rape. Rapes occur in broad daylight and late at night, in market areas, transport vehicles, police stations, and private homes.

Many survivors suffer from ongoing medical consequences of the rape but lack the resources to seek medical treatment. KOFAVIV provides high-quality, free medical care and counseling for rape survivors, including testing and treatment for STIs, prenatal care for women who become pregnant as a result of rape, and medical certificates for survivors, which are important for prosecuting perpetrators in court.

KOFAVIV creates and supports solidarity groups, providing informal social and psychological support for rape survivors. The groups are designed to provide mutual emotional support and to encourage members to begin undertaking collective action to fight gender-based violence. In addition to providing direct support to rape survivors, KOFAVIV documents human rights abuses; a necessary component of lawsuits for survivors and advocacy at the national and international level to combat violations of women's human rights.

Rape is not only physically and emotionally devastating; it is also often economically disastrous for poor women. When women are raped in their homes, aggressors frequently kill or kidnap males or other women in the household, steal money and commercial goods, and burn or destroy the house or property, which is often their only means of economic survival. This extreme physical and economic insecurity leaves women highly vulnerable to further abuses. KOFAVIV is responding by partnering with a micro-credit organization to facilitate women's access to economic resources and generate much-needed income for themselves and their families.

MADRE Member Support Makes the Difference

Ongoing support from MADRE members allows us to forge new partnerships with organizations such as KOFAVIV. Contribute today and your support will help MADRE's partners meet the immediate needs of women and families in their communities, and develop long-term solutions to the crises they face.

Donate Today!