Press Release: 10.2.13 For Immediate Release UCSB Media contact: ctr4blst@cbs.ucsb.edu
New Beyond Shock Haiti book released
by UCSB Center for Black Studies Research
Provides Comprehensive Picture of Post-Quake Fight Against Rape
Among the book’s key findings:
by UCSB Center for Black Studies Research
Provides Comprehensive Picture of Post-Quake Fight Against Rape
October 2013 - Nearly four years after Haiti’s historic earthquake, a major new book, Beyond Shock: Charting the Landscape of Sexual Violence in Post-quake Haiti is being released today by the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Center for Black Studies Research, in collaboration with the Haitian Studies Association (HSA) and the Haitian advocacy coalition PotoFanm+Fi (Women and Girls Pillar in Kreyol). The book is the first in a planned Commemorative Series, Onward! by the Center and the Haitian Studies Association.
Beyond Shock (329 pp.) was written by author and journalist Anne-christine d’Adesky with PotoFanm+Fi colleagues and includes a foreword by acclaimed Haitian author Edwidge Danticat and a visual essay on girls in Haiti’s camps by photographer Nadia Todres. It charts advances in addressing sexual violence and providing services to victims across key sectors of the reconstruction. With reports and updates from over 60 agencies, field providers and profiles of grassroots leaders, the book provides a comprehensive view of how Haitians have coped with a devastating social aftershock of the historic 2010 earthquake.
Among the book’s key findings:
- Official Cases Down, Unofficial Up: Beyond Shock confirms that gender-based violence (GBV) and rape spiked right after the 2010 earthquake. But since early 2011, officially reported cases have declined monthly at some established agencies and even plateaued to below pre-quake levels. By comparison, the unofficial picture continues to increase in urban and rural settings, linked in part to increased advocacy.
- Overlooked: Domestic Violence. Overall, domestic violence cases make up 90% of all GBV reported cases since 2010, dwarfing rape-only cases by a broad ratio of 3:1 -- similar to the ratio before 2010.
- Teens are Majority of Rape Victims: Adolescents and younger girls make up over 60% of reported rape cases since 2010. As one Haitian advocates put it, “The adults get beaten; the younger ones get raped.” Both victims and perpetrators have gotten younger, say advocates.
- Economic Triggers: Lack of Housing (and Safe Housing) and Food Insecurity have fueled GBV and an entry into survival sex for a growing number of women and girls which are gender aftershocks of the earthquake. Among solutions, women’s housing and income generation top the list, as do holistic services for victims.
