Haiti - the code of silence

Sexual and gender-based violence is an invisible ans silent plague in Haiti. Until 2005, rape was not legally considered a serious crime and a rapist could avoid jail by marrying his victim. More than a third of the patients treated at the clinic are younger than 18 years old. Reporting a rape to police in Haiti is a difficult and convoluted process, a factor that contributes to underreporting and difficulty in obtaining accurate statistics about sexual violence. Few rapists face any punishment.