Sex - Haiti Observer Blog

You are looking at the picture of three Haitian teenagers who have been accused for raping a 16 year old girl in a vacant home in fort Lauderdale. According to the Police, the girl told them that on May 14, the girl met her boyfriend James Dorelus, then several friends of her boyfriend arrived. She tried to get away but two other teens grabbed her and sexually assaulted her. While the girl continued to struggle, two more teens came into the room and over the next several hours, she was forced to engage in sexual acts with eight of them.

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President Martelly of Haiti is an unabashed sexist. At a campaign rally Martelly insulted a woman, who complained his administration had neglected to provide her community with power service. His response to her was to go have sex in the bushes with any available man.

Fusion Social Democrats', Edmonde Beauzile, responded to Martelly's comment by ordering removal, under his party's coalition, three of Martelly's officials, two ministers and the secretary of state. He. called Martelly's remark "unacceptable". The Martelly government, unfazed by Beauzile's move, knows Martelly can still govern without difficulty. He currently rules by decree, and can say and do pretty much as he pleases. Also a lame duck president leaving office soon, another reason he can be outrageous with impunity.

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Sexual violence against women in Haiti is widespread and has a long history. There are records of women being raped by soldier that arrived in Haiti with Christopher Columbus from 1492.

When Haiti was the French colony known as Saint-Domingue (1625 - 1789) rape was a popular method of torture in the slavery based economy. Sexual violence was also rife during the Haitian Revolution (1789 - 1804) and the American occupation of Haiti (1915 - 1934).

In an effort to suppress political opposition, thousands of women were subjected to sexual violence during the dictatorships of Francois Duvalier, Jean-Claude Duvalier and Raoul Cedras, in the 20th century.

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Haitian born writer Dany Laferrière has spent his career writing things that provoke. From his work in the weekly 'Le Petit Samedi Soir' to his first novel, 'How to make love to a Negro' (1987), Laferrière has carved his success with the blade of controversy, whether real or formulated.

He was born in Port-au-Prince as Windsor Kléber Laferrière on April 13, 1953. After growing up in Petit Goâve, he began working as a journalist until the late 1970's when the weekly he wrote in collaboration with Gaston Raymond most likely led to the murder of the latter. Laferrière felt it best to relocate to Canada.

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Haitian born Garcelle Beauvais is a veritable diamond 'from' the rough, her rise in the business of show a true testament that dreams born on Haitian soil can come true. The 46 year old actress, singer and model got her start at 16 when she was signed to the Ford modeling agency. It was her first big break, and it came about after the divorce of parents Axel Jean Pierre and Marie-Claire provided a move that would change her life.

Her mother, a nurse, left the island with Garcelle and her six older siblings and relocated to Massachusetts. After leaving her lawyer father and country of birth behind Garcelle, then seven, experienced severe culture shock. She learned to adjust and picked up English by watching popular American kids shows, perhaps fueling her inspiration for future on-screen success.

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Haiti is a country struggling economically, politically, and socially. As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, it has repeatedly been on the failed states index. To improve its standing among nations of the world, it must operate a stable and organized government, strengthen its infrastructure, and accord women equal and fair treatment in every aspect of their lives.

Women in Haiti are marginalized by their gender, considered inferior by males at every level of society. The brainwashing of women begins in childhood. Small girls quickly learn they are not valued, experiencing incest and watching their mothers being harassed and beaten.

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Haiti's Carnival has a dark side when it comes to music played during its annual celebration . At the festival, revelers respond to messages contained within song lyrics, and what they suggest sometimes makes the government of Haiti (GOH) uneasy. Some songs encourage festival celebrants to act out their resentment at the GOH.

During Carnival '97, the monster hit of music group Koudjay, "Si Yo Vle", urged Haitians to hang amoral politicians then in power. In response, many symbolic hangmen's nooses whirled above the crowd. Although the GOH refrained from commenting on the song, they responded with a direct show of force. Forty SWAT officers were deployed to brandish their semi-automatic rifles at the crowd with gestures that intended serious injury.

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With the weak economy and poor living conditions in Haiti, many women, including teenagers, have settled to becoming prostitutes just to earn. Prostitution is illegal in the country but this does not stop women from getting paid for sex. Since the 1940s, prostitution rings have been active in the country and it only got worse as time went by and catastrophes hit the Caribbean nation.

According to a report in 2005, Haitian children were being trafficked in the Dominican Republic, where they were forced to work as slaves or prostitutes. Many of these children were orphaned, while others can no longer be supported and fed by their parents. As a result, they are brought to the Dominican Republic and sold to families and individuals looking for a child laborer. There were reports that the trafficked children have been physically abused too and some were so traumatized they can not recall how they got to that situation.

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The child slave trade has been growing exponentially during the last decade.

After landing in the streets, 2.8 million juveniles are snatched by pornographers. Nearly 1 million children are forced to prostitute themselves. What is even more horrific is their extreme youth, averaged at age 12.

Within U.S. borders, 200,000 juveniles are at peril for being exploited within the sex trade each year. It is estimated child trafficking in the world market is pulling in $12 billion plus every year, affecting 1.2 million plus children. Women and girls make up 80% of victims, half of them minors. Numbering 300,000-400,000, they are kidnapped, bought, and sold between countries for use in the sex trade business.

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We have a video of the interview between reporter Guyer Delva and friends of the rape victim. This is a voice report only. Five Uruguayan peacekeepers in Haiti sexually molested an 18-year-old man in an attack reportedly captured by a cellphone camera.

In the original report, you can see several men laughing as they pin down a young man on a mattress. It seems to me that MINUSTAH has not been positive all positive in their involvement in Haiti. They are at the root of the cholera outbreak as it was confirmed that a unit of peacekeepers from Nepal was responsible for the epidemic that killed more than 6,200 people and sickened more than 438,000.

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