These organizations provide victims with medic-legal and psychosocial support. The MSPP does not have guidelines for procedures specific to this kind of victim.

The MCFDF, through the National Dialogue on Violence against Women, participates in the care of victims and in awareness-raising activities. A leaflet emphasizing the 72-hour deadline for effective medical follow-up has been widely disseminated throughout the ten departments of the country.

25.While rural women appeared to be less exposed to HIV infection than urban women at the onset of the pandemic, the precarious nature of access to medical attention and the phenomena of rural-urban, urban-rural and international migration have made rural women more vulnerable.

The strategic plan devised by the MCFDF encompasses a wide range of primary care and social services for women of childbearing age, pregnant women, children and adolescents. The MCFDF and civil society organizations must remain vigilant in order to ensure that those measures are implemented.

Article 13

Recreational activities and cultural life

26.In Haiti, girls and women are not prohibited from participating in cultural or sports activities. However, as mentioned in Haiti’s report, young girls spend a lot of time helping their mothers with domestic chores. They do not have enough time to participate in cultural activities and sports.

In fact, there are additional reasons for the low level or lack of participation in cultural activities by girls in rural areas. Since the State lacks the necessary technical and financial resources, it has not yet been able to develop the sports or cultural activities aspects of the curriculum or to provide public schools with the infrastructures needed for those activities. Elected local authorities, likewise lacking the necessary resources, are not yet able to arrange recreational or sports activities for the children and young people in their communes and constituencies. Lastly, parents in rural areas are themselves living in extreme poverty and are therefore unable to offer their children recreational activities other than those provided by churches or missions in the area. In public schools, girls and boys should have access to sports and cultural activities. The MCFDF intends to engage in discussions with the Ministry for Youth, Sports and Civic Action (MJSAC), as it is already doing with other ministries, with a view to concluding a formal agreement on measures to be taken in that regard.

The presence of women in Haiti’s teams in the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Para-Olympic Games — with young female athletes participating in races and judo and weightlifting competitions — is an encouraging model to be followed.

Article 14

Rural women

27.All the recent statistical surveys and studies emphasize the urban/rural gap which, for women, entails particularly serious social and economic difficulties. Nevertheless, field studies describe women’s contribution to the country’s economy and their potential for its development. The MCFDF has deplored the fact that the DSNCRP may not have taken sufficient account of either the needs or the contribution of rural women. In view of the emphasis placed on national production in governmental programmes and on the revival of the agriculture sector, the MCFDF, in its 2008-2009 Plan of Action, sets out actions to help foster the entrepreneurship of women in rural and urban areas and to expand women’s projects in the agriculture and livestock sectors.

28.“Plaçage” is the most common form of consensual union in Haiti. For women in rural areas, as for all Haitian women in such unions in general, the Parliament’s adoption of a bill submitted to it by the MCFDF should help to address the negative effects of a union that is not recognized by law.

Article 16

Family relations

29-30.The law on gender equality to be drawn up under the MCFDF’s 2008-2009 Plan of Action will take into consideration all forms of discrimination in matters related to family relations still existing under the Civil Code. This law follows the same lines as the legislative reforms introduced by the decrees of 8 October 1982 amending the provision of the Civil Code concerning the status of married women and of 6 July 2005 amending the provision of the Criminal Code by decriminalizing adultery.

Optional Protocol and Amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention

With regard to the Optional Protocol, the position set out in the country report is still valid. The Government of Haiti believes that the popularization and national dissemination of the report, together with the Committee’s concluding observations, which will be drawn up following the formal presentation of the report and the constructive discussion thereof, will motivate the State and civil society to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The MCFDF intends to recommend that the Government take the necessary steps to officially accept the amendment to article 20 of the Convention and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

Acronyms used

BPM	Brigade for the Protection of Minors
DPAG	Directorate for Gender Mainstreaming
DSNCRP	National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy Paper
FOSREF	Foundation for Reproductive Health and Family Education
IHE	Haitian Children’s Institute
IHSI	Haitian Institute of Statistics and Information Sciences
MARNDR	Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development
MAST	Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour
MCFDF	Ministry for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights
MINUSTAH	United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
MJSAC	Ministry for Youth, Sports and Civic Action
MJSP	Ministry of Justice and Public Security
MSPP	Ministry of Public Health and Population
UNIFEM	United Nations Development Fund for Women
URAMEL	Medico-Legal Research and Action Unit

Annex

Table 1Number of victims received in the organizations by year(women and girls)

Year	GHESKIO	SOFA	Kay Fanm	MSF/F
2002	58	85
2003	70	62	200
2004	261	113	198
2005	211	440	380	109
2006	534	726	954	237
2007	389	360	585	157

Sources: GHESKIO, SOFA, Kay Fanm and MSF/F reports.

Figure 1Number of victims received by organization and by year from 2003 to 2007

YearNumber of victimsNumber of victims received, by organization and by year1st half of

Sources: GHESKIO, SOFA, Kay Fanm and MSF/F reports.

years oldyears old Figure 2Distribution by age bracket and by organization

Sources: MSF/F, SOFA and Kay Fanm reports.

Table 2Number of rape cases received, by year and by organization

Year	GHESKIO	Kay Fanm	SOFA	MSF/France
2002	58
2003	70	30	13
2004	261	55	46
2005	211	84	157	109
2006	534	133	155	237
2007	389	81	101	157

Sources: GHESKIO, SOFA, Kay Fanm and MSF/France reports.

Table 3Number of victims of individual and group rape from 2003 to 2007

Data from SOFA and Kay Fanm

	Kay Fanm		SOFA
Year	Individual rape	Group rape	Individual rape	Group rape	Total
2003	18	12	11	2	43
2004	26	29	39	7	101
2005	42	42	144	13	241
2006	94	39	132	23	288
2007	57	24	79	22	182

Sources: SOFA and Kay Fanm reports.

N.B.: These data were drawn from the November 2007 URAMEL document.