30662: Forrest (reply) RE: 30652: Kathleen (reply) 30648 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: fmooy@tulane.edu

Kathleen, you really need to site some statistics if you are going to accuse 
others of "diminishing" the situation. The crimes that you mentioned in your 
reply are terrible and I have no doubt that they really happened, but they are 
only anecdotal. According to the FBI there were nearly 94,000 forcible rapes in 
the United States (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_01.html.) For Haiti 
to have the same rate of forcible rape there would have to be over 2,500 a 
year.

I have no statistics on rape in Haiti (it may be well over 2,500 a year) so I 
really can't say quantitatively who is more at risk, but if I remember 
correctly, your original question was whether or not those of us living in 
Haiti really feel safe here. I can only speak for myself and my own experience 
here. The truth is that I really do feel safe here. It is also true that I am a 
man and am, therefore, much less at risk of being the victim of a violent rape.

However, I can also honestly say that none of my female friends here (both 
Haitian and foreign) are preoccupied with the prospect of being raped. 
Furthermore, there seem to be as many women (numbering in the tens of thousands 
at least) as men attending the numerous cultural events like the Jacmel Music 
Festival, Digicel concert series, etc, who are, apparently, not so concerned 
with the prospect of being raped that it prevents them from taking to the 
streets after dark. This is a huge improvement over the past several years when 
no one (man or woman) would have wished to be out after dark.

I think everyone on the list agrees that rape in any form is a terrible thing 
that should never occur. I also doubt that anyone would argue that rape is a 
non-issue in Haiti. So if what you really wanted to know is whether or not rape 
has been eliminated in Haiti the answer is an unqualified NO, which as many 
other posters pointed out is the same in the United States and elsewhere.

Forrest Mooy
Fonkoze S.A. Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Juris Doctor Candidate, May 2009
Tulane University Law School
email: fmooy@tulane.edu