Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Port-au-Prince are in critical need of vital services such as safe shelters, mental health support and medical care, as rapes and other assaults have become widespread during violence and insecurity in Haiti’s capital in recent years.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided comprehensive medical and psychological care to sexual and gender-based violence survivors through our Pran Men’m clinic in Port-au-Prince since 2015.
To highlight the crisis of sexual violence in the city, MSF has partnered with award-winning Haitian visual artist Lyne Lucien to animate one survivor’s difficult journey toward recovery.
“We hope by telling survivors’ stories, sensitively and anonymously, we can draw much-needed attention to the challenges they face in Haiti and beyond, as well as the concrete ways people and organizations can offer support,” says Diana Manilla Arroyo, MSF country director in Haiti.
While MSF continues to receive many survivors of intimate partner violence, since mid-2022, more patients say their assailant was previously unknown to them and many incidents have involved armed groups with more than one assailant.
A typical method used by these groups is intimidation with weapons, as recounted by the survivor whose story is featured in the animation: “I was at my father’s house when we heard someone knocking. A voice from outside said that he would shoot if we did not open the door. When we opened, we saw three armed men, hooded, who threatened to kill us if I did not agree to sleep with them. And then, the three of them raped me that day.”
Following these incidents, individuals often face a journey of internal displacement, carrying both physical and psychological scars, as recounted by this patient: “After the incident, we had to flee the area and stay in another part of the city. I felt dead inside because the memories of the attack tormented me and made me cry non-stop.”
Psychological support is also essential to healing and recovery. “I found a [MSF] psychologist who spoke with me and lifted my spirits,” says one patient. “She explained the doctors would do everything possible to help me.”
“Relevant information and services must be more widely available,” says Manilla Arroyo, “such as medical and psychological care, socioeconomic support, shelter and protection, so survivors can decide what will best ensure their dignity, health and bodily autonomy.”
