Women’s Rights Groups and Cholera Victims Unite in Shared Struggle against UN Impunity in Haiti

Contact: Mario Joseph, Av., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, (in Haiti), mario@ijdh.org, +509-3701-9878 (French, Creole, English)

Maria-Elena Kolovos, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (in Haiti), mariaelena@ijdh.org, +509-4688- 9968 (English)

Women’s Rights Groups and Cholera Victims Unite in Shared Struggle against UN Impunity in Haiti On International Women’s Day 2012, human rights groups condemn MINUSTAH cholera and sexual violence

Monday, March 5, 2012, Port-au-Prince –To commemorate International Women’s Day 2012, on March 8, human rights groups will join cholera victims in a peaceful demonstration under the banner “Men and Women Together Demand Justice and Reparations for Victims of MINUSTAH Cholera and Rape.” With support from the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) Women’s Network, the Collective for Reparations for Cholera Victims, the Movement for Liberty and Equality of Haitians for Brotherhood (MOLEGAF), and Batay Ouvriye, demonstrators will peacefully protest against the cholera and sexual violence that the UN and its peacekeeping mission, MINUSTAH, have inflicted on Haitians. The demonstration will begin in front of Fort National at 10AM EST.

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A Moment with Haiti's Valiant Women for International Women's Day

It was a couple of months after the earthquake before I went to see the women. Malya and Eramithe have been friends of mine for many years. We have had highs and lows together, and I have listened to their stories and the stories of the women around them many times. Their organization, KOFAVIV (The Commission of Women Victims for Victims) has a membership of women and girls who are survivors of rape and worse. For this reason seeing the women is never an easy thing, but after the earthquake I had already heard the stories about the attacks in the camps. And I knew that my friends were living in the most dangerous and terrible place I could imagine. It was going to be much more difficult this time.

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