Quotes about Rapes in Haiti

Below are some choice quotes and excerpts from an AP article on the dramatic increase in rapes of women and children in the tent camps in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The words and stories speak for themselves.

"The toddler is taking antibiotics for a gonorrhea infection of the mouth."

"Rape was a big problem in Haiti even before the earthquake and frequently was used as a political weapon in times of upheaval...

"The 21-year-old said her family has received no food aid because THE HAITIAN MEN HANDING OUT COUPONS FOR FOOD [and shelter] DISTRIBUTION DEMAND SEXUAL FAVORS."

"Eventually she found the patrol car but THAT OFFICER "TOLD US TO GO AND GET THE ATTACKER AND BRING HIM TO THEM.""

"Few rapes are reported... women often face humiliating scrutiny... police officers who suggest they invited the attacks... nurses who contend young girls were "too hot" in their dress style."

"WE ARE AWARE OF PROBLEM... BUT IT'S NOT A PRIORITY," Information Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said last month."

Legal Bites: "Chelsea's Law" Wants GPS Tracking of Sex Offenders in California

The state of California is facing public support for a potential "Chelsea's Law," legislation that would require convicted sex offenders returning to society to wear GPS monitors that would track their movements to ensure that they stay away from the places - schools, playgrounds, child care centers - where children and youth congregate. The proposed law is named after 17-year-old Chelsea King, who disappeared in late February and was found raped and murdered a week later. Convicted sex-offender, John Robert Gardner III is charged with the crime, as well as the murder of a 14-year-old girl in a neighboring community. He was on parole at the time of the crime and his arrest.

I'm for such a new law and policy. 'Twould be nice if it were adopted by more states, too. As for this excerpt, I'm glad it's been noted now, but why it existed, what the hell:

"On Tuesday it was revealed that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last year destroyed records pertaining to Gardner's 2005 to 2008 parole as part of a routine annual documents dump.
The Associated Press and Fletcher's office both requested the documents, prompting the department to reveal that they had been destroyed.
Upon learning of the department's policy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered all parole records for convicted sex offenders held indefinitely."

International: Asylum for the Domestic and Sexually Abused?

This post is in response to this NYTimes article, which reports on an issue that reveals the indignance presented by the Bush administration and the walking-on-eggshells hesitation by the Obama administration as regards setting asylum criteria that would consider sexual abuse and physical abuse as eligible instances to would trigger asylum.

The reservation is understandable, but one can be protective without being cold and hard and hypocritical. What, ultimately, makes political or religious asylum any different than asylum based on sexual abuse? Perhaps it reflects our existing willingness and even desire to ignore physical and sexual abuse in domestic situations even of our own citizens.

Commentary: "Rape Hobbles Bush Administration Policies"

(The following is both an expression of understanding of this Truthout article by Ann Wright and a critical response to the first comment posted below the article.)


While it would have been nice to have a little more of a breakdown of the progressive rapes and sexual assaults of Japanese women and girls by U.S. servicemen, that must not be taken to detract from the terrible fact that it is even occurring. There should be NO attacks occurring.

Similarly, the eventual dropping of charges in that one case, and the claim of lack of evidence in the other, DOES IN NO WAY MINIMIZE the fact that the attack happened in the first place. There are legal wranglings and political pressures on the Japanese courts by U.S. interests unfortunately, yet inevitably, involved, and it is small comfort to have the accused servicemen prosecuted or suicidal years after the fact for repeat offenses on American women -- after being allowed to retire or be dishonorably discharged for the previous offense in Japan.

The fact remains that women around the world -- whether civilians or servicewomen; abroad or at home -- are needlessly and thoughtlessly put in danger without access to fair and adequate legal and medical recourse. The fact remains that the culture of the U.S. military (and by extension, facets of U.S. society) accepts sexual assault as part of the lay of the land -- part of a boys will be boys mentality.
That mentality is not acceptable in the grade school classroom and is certainly not acceptable in what is supposed to be one of the noblest and most representative institutions of our nation.