Amnesty International documented cases of sexual violence in camps. Four of the victims interviewed were children. An 8-year-old girl called Celine (not her real name) was alone in the tent at night when she was raped. Her mother had left the camp to work and had no one to look after her daughter during her absence. A 15-year-old girl, called Fabienne (not her real name) was raped when she left the camp to urinate, as there were no latrines within the camp. Carline (not her real name), 21, was raped by 3 men when she went to urinate in a remote area of the camp, as the latrines were too dirty to be used. Pascaline (not her real name), 21, was raped and beaten in her tent, neighbors failed to intervene because they believed she was with her partner.
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What can I say? These folks that continue to promote this idea that security is not important, or that contracting security is disaster capitalism will have the crimes and violence in Haiti all over their pen holding hands. Shame on you. All I have to say is that you cowards have to look at yourself in the mirror every day and realize that people are suffering because of this ‘non-action’ you keep promoting.
But it gets worse. Now we are sending cops from one humanitarian disaster (Rwanda) to another disaster (Haiti), and somehow this gets a free pass?
The first article below is about sending Rwandan cops to Haiti. Whose hair brained idea was this and how are these clowns going to actually increase security in Haiti? As the first article below has clearly stated, Rwanda is the last country to get get security forces from or claim some kind of humanitarian award for excellence.
The second article is about the $ 13.55 billion that world wide donors have raised to rebuild Haiti. Billions…. That’s nice and all, but if there is that much money floating around, why are Haitians having any issues at all regarding security? In my view, that money should be used to first provide security in Haiti, so that the building process can actually take place. Food, water and shelter is great, but if you get murdered/raped/robbed, then what good is that other stuff? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs comes to mind.
To depend on piss poor UN troops, Rwandan security, or a depleted and ravaged Haitian police is not working. I say contract a police force to come in and assist, and in the mean time build the prison up and build police capability. But for security right now when it is most needed, there should be no hesitation. Get it done, or watch crimes, murders, and rapes continue to be committed. That would be a good use of a small portion of that large sum of money. That isn’t disaster capitalism, that’s just human decency and compassion. To stand by and watch is unacceptable.
The third article goes into detail on how the Haitian police are struggling to bring order to the chaos. They are simply overwhelmed. Thousands of prisoners have escaped, gang violence has increased, rapes have increased, and the police is dealing with a destroyed city and people. So why is it that we are not sending in the cavalry? Oh that’s right, the Rwandans are the cavalry. Pfffft.
Now get this. In the fourth article, it discusses how the locals have had to organize their own security forces to deal with this stuff. If that is not an indicator that police are in trouble, I don’t know what is. So is street justice better than contracting security who would be supporting Haitian security forces?
The last quote and article is from Amnesty International. They are screaming for more police in their recommendations, and their report is pretty clear. Crimes are up, as is sexual assaults, and of course they want something done about it. What is not in the report, is AI’s position on Rwandan cops trying to secure the mess in Haiti. The other thing that is missing is that AI made no mention of contracting security forces to step in to stop these stuff. It’s strange and somewhat disgusting to me that the humanitarian option in Haiti that continues to be promoted by all of these so called ‘humanitarian groups’, is to not do ‘everything’ within our power to stop this. -Matt
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US-UN Peace-keepers” bring Rwandan Police to Haiti
March 11, 2010
by Ann Garrison
In case anyone needed further evidence that President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda is the Pentagon’s proxy, 140 Rwandan police are about to undertake special training before heading to Haiti, as reported in the Rwanda New Times, because, according to Rwandan Police Chief Edmund Kayiranga, “Rwanda wants to be involved in promoting peace in other countries” and, if need be, they would send more peacekeepers to other countries.