Haiti camps no safe havens for women

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Living in a small blue tent at a sprawling camp for earthquake survivors, Venia Ellian says she sometimes looks down at her infant — his generous cheeks, tiny lips and small, dark eyes — and cries.

"The first time I looked into his eyes, it hurt," says Ellian, 22. "When I look at Richard, I remember the rape." Ellian was attacked two days after the Jan. 12 earthquake that left hundreds of thousands of Haitians homeless and living in camps to await the reconstruction of the shattered homes. She was dragged into an abandoned building where four men she did not know tied her up, beat her and raped her.

Afterward, Ellian staggered naked to a police station where she says an officer asked her why she hadn't screamed more during the attack, implying she hadn't done enough to stop the rape.

No one has been arrested in the case, and Ellian was forced to live in the camps after her father threw her out of the house when he saw that she was pregnant.

Rape was already a serious problem in Haiti even before the earthquake. The United Nations reported in 2008 that almost half of the girls and young women living in slums like Cité Soleil and Martissant had been raped...

[Full Article]

Haiti protests against UN flare again
'This epidemic is not going to go away,' UN official says

Protesters in Haiti's capital are lashing out at United Nations peacekeepers and the government, blocking roads and attacking foreigners' vehicles.

Demonstrators have set up burning barricades, and Haitian police have responded with tear gas. Vehicles belonging to the UN and non-governmental organizations have been pelted with rocks.

The growing protest comes a week before national elections, and some of the demonstrators are destroying campaign posters for President Rene Preval's Unity party.

It follows days of rioting in northern Haiti over suspicions that UN soldiers introduced a cholera epidemic into the country...

[Full Article]

Gunfire in Haiti as anger over cholera boils over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODPkXpkDbg4

itnnews | November 17, 2010

Cholera protesters in Haiti capital stone U.N. patrol

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Several hundred protesters stoned a U.N. patrol and yelled anti-U.N. slogans in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday as anger spread over a cholera epidemic that is killing dozens of people every day.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who accuse U.N. peacekeepers of bringing the disease to the Caribbean nation, where national elections are to be held on November 28, more than 10 months after a devastating earthquake.

Reports that Nepalese U.N. troops were the source of the raging cholera outbreak have angered many in the Western Hemisphere's poorest state, although the United Nations says there is no conclusive evidence to support this.

A patrol of U.N. troops in their traditional blue helmets withdrew hastily after they were pelted with stones by the demonstrators, who also tried to block streets with rocks and debris. The protesters shouted "MINUSTAH must go" and "MINUSTAH brought cholera to Haiti," referring to the acronym of the U.N. mission...

[Full Article]

Cholera unrest hits Haiti capital

Police fire tear gas into a camp for displaced people as protests accusing UN troops of bringing cholera turn violent.

Police fired tear gas at the crowds as protesters set fire to barricades and threw rocks as vehicles

Police in Haiti have fired tear gas into a camp for internally displaced people in Port-au-Prince, the capital, following violent riots.

The unrest followed protests against the presence of United Nations peacekeepers in the country, as locals become increasingly angry over a cholera outbreak that many people blame on Nepalese troops.

The disease has killed more than 1,100 people in about three weeks.

Demonstrators set up burning barricades as vehicles were pelted with stones on Thursday. Several hundred rock-throwing youths attacked an open-top lorry carrying members of Minustah, the UN force in Haiti.

The young demonstrators, many of them in their teens, shouted slogans such as "Cholera: It's Minustah who gave it to us!" and "Minustah, go home" as the protests spread.

It was the fourth day the country had seen such demonstrations. The UN denies that it is responsible for the cholera outbreak. Earlier this week, at least two people were killed in riots against the UN in the north of Haiti...

[Full Article]

Haiti riots against UN heats up

AlJazeeraEnglish | November 17, 2010

More than a thousand people have now been killed in the cholera outbreak, which the UN says is now being used for political reasons because of forthcoming elections.

Some Haitians are blaming the Nepalese peacekeepers for the deadly cholera virus.

The government is sending it's own troops to protect the peacekeepers.

Al Jazeera's Rosie Garthwaite has the details.

U.N. Wastes Money On Cruise Ship Hotels

The Worst Kept Secret In Haiti: The UN's Cruise Ship Hotel

..."If the UN is living on a cruise ship, it is the perfect metaphor for how they are viewed here in the country," said Richard Morse, the 52-year-old owner of Port-au-Prince's iconic Hotel Oloffson.

"If they think quake refugees should be living on cruise ships, then they should get cruise ships for the Haitian people, that's all I'm saying. Unless of course I am misinterpreting this and they really are better than Haitians."...


The Business Of Disaster: Where's The Haiti-Bound Money Going?

...Meanwhile, where are the billions in foreign aid money going?

Of the U.S. money, 40 cents on every dollar goes to the U.S. military, according to sources gathered from USAID and the U.N. and compiled by the Associated Press.[iii] Less than one cent goes to the Haitian government. U.S. government contracts, paid for by citizen's tax dollars, are being given out to private U.S. corporations for post-earthquake work including damage assessments, security guards, military "mission support," shipping of supplies, clean-up, construction, long-term planning, "monitoring food security," and much more...


With Haiti In Ruins, Some U.N. Relief Workers Live Large On 'Love Boat'

The U.N. is spending over $10 million to house some of its Haiti relief workers on a pair of chartered cruise ships -- one of which has been dubbed the "Love Boat" by U.N. staff -- and some of the funds are going to a company closely linked to the government of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

International Shipping Partners

The lavish Harbor Lights Lounge aboard the Sea Voyager, a cruise ship chartered by the U.N.'s World Food Program to house some of its relief workers in Haiti.

For the United Nations World Food Program, it was a moment of satisfaction: the U.N.'s flagship relief agency announced on its Web site on March 19 that two gleaming passenger ships had docked in ravaged Port au Prince harbor.

What the Web site announcement did not disclose was that the vessels were intended to house not homeless Haitian refugees, but employees of the U.N. itself. Nor did it publicize the cost of leasing the ships: $112,500 a day. Nor did it mention that one of the vessels is owned by a company closely linked to the government of Venezuelan strongman President Hugo Chavez.

Another thing not mentioned: Even U.N. staffers regularly refer to one of the ships as "the Love Boat."...

U.N.'s 'Love Boat' Lets Relief Workers Handle Haiti (Slideshow)

Welcome to the "Love Boat," a chartered cruise ship where many U.N. relief workers are living while they stay in Haiti's ruined capital of Port au Prince, where most residents are homeless. The U.N. is paying over $10 million to rent a pair of ships, because "you have to be in good shape in order to help the Haitians," a senior U.N. official told Fox News.

• 

Rape on the Rise in Haiti's Camps

Girls as young as 12 have been attacked as sexual violence plagues the quake's survivors

In one of the great unmentioned effects of the earthquake in Haiti, women and young girls are suffering a rising number of rapes and sexual assaults, according to leading aid agencies. So widespread are the reports – and they include the rape of a girl of 12 by her rescuer after she was pulled out from the rubble – that emergency measures are now being taken...

Haitian Officials Fear Human Trafficking and Selling of Organs After Earthquake

Haitian officials fear child trafficking could be underway following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Speaking on CNN Wednesday night, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said he has received reports of kids being sold, and he believed human organs were also being taken from victims of the quake for profit.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/28/2010-01-28_haitian_officials_fear_human_trafficking_and_the_selling_of_organs_after_earthqu.html#ixzz0e2JtDrOw

Traffickers Targeting Haiti's Children

(CNN) -- Trafficking of children and human organs is occurring in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated parts of Haiti, killed more than 150,000 people, and left many children orphans, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday...

A Haiti Disaster Relief Scenario Was Envisaged by the US Military One Day Before the Earthquake

A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Miami one day prior to the earthquake.

The holding of pre-disaster simulations pertained to the impacts of a hurricane in Haiti. They were held on January 11. (Bob Brewin, Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts (1/15/10) -- GovExec.com, complete text of article is contained in Annex)

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD), was involved in organizing these scenarios on behalf of US Southern Command.(SOUTHCOM).

Defined as a "Combat Support Agency", DISA has a mandate to provide IT and telecommunications, systems, logistics services in support of the US military. (See DISA website: Defense Information Systems Agency).

On the day prior to the earthquake, "on Monday [January 11, 2010], Jean Demay, DISA's technical manager for the agency's Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane." (Bob Brewin, op cit, emphasis added)...

Focus on Israel: Harvesting Haitian Organs

On January 15, Haaretz reported that:

“The Israel Defense Forces’ aid mission to Haiti left Israel overnight (January 14) with equipment for setting up an emergency field hospital. Around 220 soldiers and officers (were) in the delegation, including 120 medical staff (to) operate the hospital in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.”

According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it includes “40 doctors, 25 nurses, paramedics, a pharmacy, a children’s ward, a radiology department, an intensive care unit, an internal department and a maternity ward (able to) treat approximately 500 patients each day,” including in two surgery rooms.

On January 20, Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV reported on the mission, citing a damning You Tube video posted by an American named T. West from a group called AfriSynergy Productions.

“The video presents something to think about while exploiting the horrible tragedy that has befallen Haiti where Israeli occupation soldiers are engaged in organ trafficking.”

Israel faced these charges before. In November 2009, Alison Weir’s article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs headlined, “Israeli Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine.” She cited an August Donald Bostrom article in Sweden’s Aftonbladet suggesting that Israel illicitly removes body parts, including from Palestinians..