Haiti's Slums Are Hotbeds Of Sexual Assault

Sunday’s Guardian featured a heartbreaking video about the issue of sexual violence against Haitian women.

Filmmaker Xanthe Hinchey visits the slums of Haiti and interviews the head of the Ministry of Women, Myriam Merlet, along with several rape victims. Merlet attributes the extremely high rate of sexual assault (up to 50% of the women living in the slums have been attacked) to political turmoil. Street gangs play a major role in sexual violence in Haiti, but police officers have also been known to prey upon the women and girls living in the slums. To make matters even worse, the justice system has a terrible record with rapes – only 12 rapes make it to court each year. Haiti only made rape a crime in 2005. [Guardian]