Haiti Earthquake Reconstruction Knowledge Notes from ... - GFDRR

Helping Women and Children to Recover and Build Resilient Communities | 31
Helping Women and Children
to Recover and Build Resilient Communities
Disasters are not neutral. They compound social exclusion and existing vulnerabilities,
disproportionately taxing the poor, women, children and the elderly. Relief and recovery
interventions are also not neutral. They can increase, reinforce, or reduce existing inequalities.
In the immediate term, this means taking measures to protect the safety and human rights of
women, children and other vulnerable groups, collecting data by sex and age to understand
different needs, and involving women and children in the design, implementation, and
monitoring of interventions. For longer term recovery, support can be designed to upgrade
living standards of the poor, to enable the most marginalized to participate, and to establish
mechanisms between affected citizens and government to foster accountability.
OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN: SECURITY
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Guaranteeing the physical security of women
and children is critical in post disaster settings.
International experience shows that the violence
against and sexual harassment of women and children
typically increase after a crisis, when civil and
administrative structures have been weakened. In
temporary shelter settlements, security provisions
should include appropriate lighting in areas frequently
used by women and girls, safe and confidential reporting
mechanisms, and additional policing.
Adequate privacy should be offered to all.
Women and girls should be consulted on the setup
and location of sanitation to ensure that the route
is safe and latrines are well lit, locked from the inside,
and offer privacy. Separate facilities, not directly
next to each other, should be put in place for
males and females. Pregnant women in temporary
settlements are at high risk due to the psychological
and physical strains. Medical facilities should be
established specifically for pregnant women, lactating
mothers, and infants.
Orphans and children separated from their
families are at high risk of abuse, abduction,
and kidnapping. The physical security and legal
protection for this highly vulnerable populace is a
priority, as is family reunification. In some cases, as
in Pakistan, the government banned the adoption
of children from earthquake-affected areas. For
orphans, interim and alternative care options that
are culturally sensitive should be provided, and unnecessary
institutionalization should be avoided.
Awareness raising and training on child rights and
child protection should be carried out targeting all
concerned actors.
About 225,000 or 16 percent of the children in
Haiti are restaveks, i children sent by their parents