IACHR Commissioners at 140th Period of Sessions (Oct. 26, 2010).
Participants: Mouvement de Femmes de Cité Soleil (MOFECS) and the State of Haiti (neither present)
Countries: Haiti
Topic: Human rights situation for women in IDP camps
Update:
On October 26, 2010, in the Ruben Dario room at the Inter-American Commission headquarters in Washington, DC neither the state of Haiti nor the petitioner, Mouvement de Femmes de Cité Soleil (MOFECS), were present for the scheduled hearing on the state of human rights for women in IDP camps in Haiti. The petitioners were unable to obtain visas, and Haiti’s representatives were not present at the Commission hearing. As a result, the Commission decided to cancel the hearing, but discussed the topic during an earlier hearing on the human rights situation during reconstruction in Haiti.
During the earlier hearing, the Commission asked about the increased vulnerability of women since the earthquake, noting that the situation of Haitian women had not been ideal before the incident. The petitioners (in the earlier hearing included: Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH), Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH), Centre Œcuménique des Droits Humains (CEDH), Comité des Avocats pour le Respect des Libertés Individuelles (CARLI)) responded that the situation for women in Haiti has become more dire with prostitution and sexual assault increasing along with the vulnerability of the displaced. The Haitian government has failed to act to protect any of the displaced people, which has had a particularly severe impact on women. The lack of representatives of the government and the petitioners meant little could be established before the Commission about the positions of either of the parties.
