While the island nation still struggles to come back from a devastating January quake, women in Haiti now have to deal with rising sexual violence. Thousands of prisoners escaped during the earthquake, and combined with the already fearful, desperate environment, Haiti has become “an ideal climate for rape." Counseling for victims has tripled since last year, and many more incidents go unreported and untreated. International relief groups have expressed concern about the issue: “The threat is constant,” said a spokesman for the Haitian National Police. The U.N. has also dispatched patrols, and 100 Bangladeshi policewomen arrived last month to deal with gender-based violence in the refugee camps.
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