Help Annie Bring Legal Support to the Women and Children of Haiti

Last week marked the six-month anniversary since an earthquake hit Haiti killing 230,000 people. To reflect on the past six months, media and non-profits reported on the progress made to date, and the enormous amount of work there is ahead of us. Also in the reports were people’s frustrations about the red tape that is hindering progress (who owns what land, getting items through customs) and observations that six months later, Port-au-Prince does not look much better ("It still looks like a bomb just dropped on this city," said CNN's Ivan Watson.)

To top it off, the U.N. estimates 1.5 million, almost one in nine Haitians, are still homeless.

Really? What about the billions of dollars that our country donated to this relief effort? Where did that go – and was it properly allocated? Why should I donate more when it seems to be getting lost in bureaucratic gridlock and political instability? I want to help the effort, but I need to hear firsthand from people that they are going there to do “x,” or else how do I know that my money is really making a difference?

Enter Annie Gell. This fall, Annie will bring something to Haiti that is desperately needed – accountability and oversight. She has been accepted as a Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN) Fellow with organizations Bureau Des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

But she needs your help. Annie needs to raise $15,000 to support her work for six months in Haiti and is asking people to please provide her with a tax-deductible contribution.

So, if like me, you want to know where your money is going – look no further than Annie. Her cause is a great one to support. Click here to donate.

Annie’s name came to me via my boyfriend who heard about her work and need for funding. Annie currently represents immigrant victims of domestic violence in the New York area, working to regularize their immigration status and bring over their children from abroad to reunite the family on U.S. soil. Her organization is called Sanctuary for Families.

I spoke to Annie on the phone a few days ago and asked her about the need for lawyers in Haiti, specifically for women and children. Annie explained that, for the most part, supporting women’s legal rights in Haiti is low down on the list of priorities.

“In Haiti right now, what we’re seeing is a society in a country that has so many human rights challenges, and women tend to be particularly vulnerable to these human rights abuses, whether its sexual abuse, or access to food and health services,” she says.



Annie’s words of human rights failures against women are echoed by that of others, including a special envoy to Haiti I heard at the June UNIFEM conference, and an article that appeared about a month ago in The New York Times titled Sexual Assaults Add to Miseries of Haiti’s Ruins. The article tells the horrific story of a twenty-two year old woman who was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by two men under the rubble of a destroyed home.

The article says that, “So many cases of rape go unrecorded here that statistics tell only a piece of the story. But existing numbers, from the police or women’s groups, indicate that violence against women has escalated in the months after the Jan. 12 earthquake.”

Beyond a police investigation, the article did not discuss the legal ramifications for rape or how these men would be dealt with if and when caught.

Annie has also learned that in the area of food distribution, it is not unheard of for women to be asked to give men sexual favors to secure food for their family.

This is evidenced by a video posted on the BAI website, which speaks to the victims of rape themselves who provide details of their horrifying ordeals:



While Annie is not sure of her specific charge while in Haiti (yes, the plan right now is to do a follow-up), Annie’s work with BAI will focus on four core pillars: litigation (persecuting those accountable in courts), documentation (going to the source of a crime and gathering irrefutable evidence – “name and shame” – to put international pressure on people), grassroots advocacy (bringing together women from different communities to combine forces to create change) and capacity building (as an example, BAI trains Haitian lawyers, specifically women, to be human rights advocates for the people in their country).

Annie’s particular work, she expects, will be on the documentation part, partnering with Haitian Women’s Rights advocates to serve as witness to what is happening on the ground. She says she will also certainly be involved in litigation and hopes to come up with strategies that will bring abuses against women to international forums and courts.

On another note, Annie and I also discussed the concern of a Haiti fatigue among the public – and why the money that we have put forth is only going so far.

Annie discussed how some organizations are more effective than others because of a low operating budget and high levels of accountability, such as Partners in Health, which Annie called “really effective.” IJDH and BAI, with whom Annie will work, are other organizations making a huge difference. Of them Annie says, “First and foremost, they are looking to do the work and do it well.” They are more accountable and have a small budget, says Annie. The leaders of these organizations “have focused their lives on helping the poor people of Haiti. There is nothing cushy or luxurious about what they do. They are in the trenches.”



And soon, so will Annie. But she needs our help to get there.

Help Annie give women a voice in the legal system and bring greater security and accountability to the people of Haiti who need it most.

Donate here today – and please pass the link along to your friends and family. On the donation page, you can read more about Annie’s work and follow a link to read her full fellowship proposal.

“At the end of the day,” says Annie of Haiti, “it’s about who have you helped and what have you done to make the situation better. A woman who is raped doesn’t care who helps her – she just wants help.”