WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY:
HAITI

"A friend - a neighbor - had seen what happened, and he came and took me to the hospital. But I couldnít stay at the hospital because they were harassing people who had been attacked. I left and went to a friendís. For a while, I went from house to house. Then, each one of my friends took one of my children.

We are still not together. I have not been able to secure housing. Some of my children are in Port au Prince and some are in the countryside. No one can take all of them at once, so we have to be separate and they have to be in different locations […] My friends and I and some other women started a drama troupe. With our plays, we are trying to raise awareness, to bring violence into consciousness, to bring peace to the country. At first there was suspicion among us because nobody knew where the others were coming from. Then we started to make a bond. "

Jacqueline Payant

"The men entered the room where S., my husband's other child, and my cousin were sleeping. My cousin was seventeen and they tried to rape her but they realized that she had her period and left her alone ... . One of the armed civilians put a gun across my cousin's legs and molested her. He put his hands under her gown and felt her breasts and rubbed his hands over her stomach and her thighs. After this, the soldiers ransacked the house and stole their provisions. Two of the men were in uniform and one other, who was a local policeman, was dressed in civvies."
http://www.hri.ca/fortherecord1998/documentation/commission/e-cn4-1998-54.htm#N_6_