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Sexual abuse adds insult to Haiti quake injuries
Post-quake situation in Haiti sees a rise in insecurity that threatens the life of many vulnerable women and children living in makeshift camps. With the fall of night, gangs begin roaming the capital city of Port-au-Prince to prey on women and children living in power outage hit camps. There are reports hinting at vulnerable women who have been harassed and raped by criminals who escaped prison after the 7-magnitude quake hit the Central American nation. Haiti's police chief Mario Andrésol said that 7,000 convicted criminals are responsible for the increase in violence, Germany's Bild reported. "We needed five years to catch them. Today they are running free and causing us problems," he said. Other reports suggest that strong men are stealing the scarce food handouts collected by weaker women and children. "Only Jesus Christ is watching over us," said Mariana Merise, 40, who lives in a camp by the crumpled National Palace that residents said was plagued by gangs stealing their meager possessions. The Haitian government says child trafficking and organ theft are among other disastrous issues that plague the poor nation. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN that it is "one of the biggest problems that we have." I'm not real sure what they'd be doing with any organs harvested right now... The reports have surfaces as the United States has dispatched thousands of troops to bring order to the quake-hit nation. "I don't think any of us are anywhere near being close to being satisfied, because so much more needs to be done," said Anthony Banbury, the deputy head of the UN mission in Haiti. Posted by: Fred 2010-01-30 |
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