Lavil: Life, Love, and Death in Port-au-Prince

MINA AND EVE

Mina—16, student
Eve—34, lawyer

We spoke with Mina (pseudonym) and her lawyer, Eve Emanuela, at the Bureau des Advocats Internationaux (B.A.I.), a public interest and human rights law firm in downtown Port-au-Prince. Mina hesitantly told us her story. Eve provided additional context concerning prosecuting sexual violence crimes in Haiti. Eve, or Met Ev, as she is known to her friends, lives in Port-au-Prince and was herself a victim of sexual assault in her childhood.

MINA

I’m sixteen now and in tenth grade. I’m living with my parents, and I have two brothers. I’m the oldest. I was born in Carrefour in 1998.¹ My dad sells goods for a living.

It was November 2, 2010. I was at home with my brother. I was cooking when a man entered the house. I didn’t know he was coming in. I knew him from the neighborhood, but we weren’t friends. I was twelve years old. He was eighteen and taller than me. He grabbed me from behind. He took me to the bedroom, and he left when he was done. I don’t know how long he was in my house. At first, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but I sure did know that he had no right to do it.

I felt strange. I usually tell my mother everything. My mother went to the police and they arrested him. My father agreed with everything my mother did. I was scared. His family started threatening me. The next day, I went to the General Hospital. They transferred me to Christ-Roi. Christ-Roi put me in touch with KOFAVIV who in turn put me in touch with B.A.I.²

Once I found B.A.I., I wasn’t as scared anymore. I liked that the lawyers cared. They really knew our constitution and were pleading for me. Ms. Eve became my lawyer. I really like Ms. Eve. I laugh every time I see her. I love her very much. She’s always smiling. She has an open face. I’m kind of scared of mean people.

I was scared in my own neighborhood. The man’s family members were threatening to kill me or beat me. It doesn’t sit right with me or my family that the man’s family was harassing us. I never used to hear the things that I heard people calling me. Dirty words. I don’t want to repeat them. They also said that my family went to the judge because we needed money.

The man was sentenced to six years in jail. He had already spent two years in jail before the trial. I think he should stay in prison for fifteen years. That’s what the constitution says it’s supposed to be.

His family stopped bothering me after the trial, but they did say to our face that they’d kill me. I still live in the same neighborhood with his family, and I see them in the streets. When I see them, I try to avoid them, but I don’t feel safe around them. I especially feel unsafe when I’m alone. Before, I felt safe in my neighborhood. Now I’m scared, especially since all his family members know me and I don’t know them.

I come to KOFAVIV every Saturday, and I have a great support from my friends. We do arts and crafts, sewing lessons. I am learning how to make sandals. We joke around. We sometimes sing or read poetry. I’m happy here. I love them, and I love my family.

I want to become a lawyer. I want to help other young girls like me going through this. I like arts and crafts and spending time with my little brothers. I like to read novels, but I don’t read anymore. I used to go to the library to get books, but now I can’t. My mother is not comfortable with me leaving the house after what happened. I don’t want her to worry, so I don’t go anymore. In my neighborhood, I don’t have any friends anymore. Most young girls in the neighborhood moved away or are with child. I am different. My friends are the people who come to KOFAVIV on Saturday, so we have something in common.

I feel like he took a piece of my future. I worry about what my husband will think of me. I will not be a virgin on my wedding day. I try not to think about it.

EVE EMANUELA

I just wanted to point out how fast the assailant was. He walked in, grabbed her from behind, pulled her skirt up, and raped her. He was out just as fast he was in. He was wearing a pair of shorts that made it easier for him.

The situation right now is pretty bad for her since she lives in the same neighborhood as the aggressor’s family. Family members usually think that the rapist is going to go free until they face trial. When they realize that the aggressor is going to jail, they start threatening the victim.

In our culture, the family doesn’t consider the assailant’s act, they only think that you put their own in jail. That’s the worst thing you could do to a family. You become their worst enemy. They harass the victim with the unrealistic hope that the victim will get scared and release the aggressor. That’s not possible. It’s not up to the victim. Once the person is detained, he has to go through the whole process and be found either guilty or innocent.

An aggressor’s family doesn’t usually start with harassment; they sometimes first offer money to the victim’s family. It’s before the hearing. If the family accepts the money early enough, it is possible that they may find some police officer willing to take a bribe and release the person. But if the victim’s family is adamant on pursuing channels of justice, then the harassment begins.

The law says the sentence is minimum ten years for any victims over fifteen years old and fifteen years for victims under fifteen years old. The judges never respect that. In this case, she was twelve years old when he raped her. He should have automatically gotten fifteen years to start with. He was eighteen years old then. Every judge interprets the situation differently. Since the rapist was kind of young, and though the victim was only twelve, she was physically well developed. This created a bias for the judge. He was thinking that maybe they were in a relationship and didn’t tell anyone. That’s why he failed to objectively analyze the case.

Some judges are really strict. They follow the law, but other judges give the law their own interpretation. We tried to refute the sentence, but the judge wouldn’t listen.

The judge needs to enlighten people. He needs to say to them what violence is. Instead of bringing their own bias to a case, our judges need to apply the law.

One example is, with me, I’m helping the people who are sexually violated. The judge says to me, “Oh, you’re too into that. You’re too angry. You need to calm down. One day, somebody will rape you. You have to take it easy.” They make a joke. They just say, “You might be raped.” They don’t say, “I will rape you.” They make jokes about it. This happens often in the judge’s chambers before we move into court. It’s just the lawyer, the victim, and the judge. And the court reporter is writing. So they joke around a lot. If it’s a little girl, they’re not going to joke that much. But if it’s an older girl, they will joke around like it’s a fairytale, like it’s like a story. Like it’s something that’s not real.