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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPU #0154/01 0410333
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY AD2010E0 TOQ9085-695)
O 100331Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0118
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0342
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE
INFO HAITI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000154 
 
SENSITIVE 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV PINR PREL PREF HA
SUBJECT: USAID/DART OVERVIEW OF HAITI POST-EARTHQUAKE PROTECTION 
ISSUES 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  In the post-earthquake period, affected populations 
confront significant risks, including potential exploitation, 
abuse, psychosocial distress, and gender-based violence.  Limited 
information regarding the availQlity of humanitarian assistance 
exacerbates psychosocial distress, in particular.  Protection 
agencies also highlight growing concern regarding children, 
particularly those living in orphanages or otherwise separated from 
families.  Protection and gender are cross-cutting issues that 
organizations must address and mainstream into all programs funded 
by USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA). 
In addition, in response to identified protection concerns in 
Haiti, USAID/OFDA is targeting vulnerable populations through 
support to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other implementing 
partners for stand-alone protection activities.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
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Protection Risks for the Earthquake-affected Population 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) Recognizing significant protection concerns - defined as 
harm, exploitation, or abuse of affected populations - in the 
post-earthquake period, USAID's Disaster Assistance Response Team 
(USAID/DART) deployed a protection advisor to Port-au-Prince on 
January 29.  The USAID/DART Protection Advisor is working with the 
humanitarian community to identify and assess potential protection 
issues and recommend appropriate programmatic responses. 
 
 
¶3.   (U) Humanitarian organizations are working to address a number 
of identified protection-related issues in Haiti, including limited 
humanitarian assistance information, psychosocial distress, sexual 
and gender-based violence, and child protection.  According to U.N. 
agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), adequate 
humanitarian information is crucial to alleviate the stress caused 
by the affected populations' inability to meet basic needs. 
Post-disaster, affected individuals should be informed of the 
availability, location, and method of receiving basic goods and 
services.  To improve information sharing and general awareness of 
assistance, agencies participating in the Protection Cluster and 
sub-clusters for gender-based violence and child protection are 
devising strategies for messaging through radio and other means. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) According to the USAID/DART Protection Advisor, the 
anxiety associated with meeting basic survival needs compounds the 
stress caused by the earthquake - due to injury, loss of life, 
damaged or destroyed houses, and disruptions to livelihoods and 
daily routines.  Multiple stress factors raise significant concerns 
for widespread psychosocial distress among the affected population. 
In addition, NGO partners have also noted the effects on the 
population of being unable to bury deceased family members with 
traditional ceremonies, as many remain unrecovered or have been 
buried in mass graves. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence, is 
of increasing coQrn for women and girls living in informal 
settlements, where a lack of secure and private shelter makes women 
particularly vulnerable.  Illustrating these concerns, U.N. 
agencies and NGOs have reported several known cases of rape in 
camps, although data is not yet collected in an organized fashion. 
In particular, displaced women and girls have expressed concern 
about the risk of sexual violence when they bathe - either in the 
open or in shower facilities that lack adequate lighting or 
privacy.  Congested conditions in camps present a significant 
challenge to humanitarian agencies establishing water and 
sanitation facilities.  Little space is available in informal 
settlements to provide these facilities in accordance with best 
practices, whereby community members work with relief agencies to 
locate water and sanitation facilities in areas that maximize 
safety and privacy. 
 
¶6.  (U) Humanitarian organizations working in Haiti have 
highlighted child protection as a particular concern.  The 
earthquake and ensuing confusion resulted in the separation of some 
children from their caregivers.  These unaccompanied children 
require assistance in reuniting with caregivers, while other 
children will remain orphaned by the earthquake and require interim 
and long-term care arrangements.  Although children are often 
naturally resilient, those who experienced injury, loss, and 
disruption of daily life require an early return to routine care, 
play, and education to promote recovery. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Children living in orphanages are a particularly vulnerable 
population.  In cooperation with the Government of Haiti (GoH) 
Office for Child Protection (IBERS), UNICEF is conducting 
assessments of GoH-registered orphanages in earthquake-affected 
areas.  To date, UNICEF has completed assessments in approximately 
220 orphanages.  The USAID/DART Protection Advisor has also 
travelled to assess conditions in six orphanages in metropolitan 
Port-au-Prince, noting that each of the orphanages sustained 
structural damage, displacing caregivers and children to outside 
areas, even from buildings with minimal damage.  Orphanages visited 
by the protection advisor also reported that usual support systems 
- typically funding from individual donors and churches - had been 
disrupted, leaving caregivers unable to procure the necessary food 
and water. 
 
 
 
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Responding to Protection Risks 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) Psychosocial Support:  Humanitarian best practices 
immediately following an emergency include efforts to increase 
access to basic services and provide information about assistance, 
as vital first steps in addressing an affected population's 
psychosocial distress.  The USAID/DART is encouraging implementing 
partners to incorporate messaging into relief activities - 
informing affected individuals that assistance is available and 
explaining how to receive it.  Furthermore, USAID partners 
mainstream protection as a cross-cutting issue into the design and 
implementation of all programs.  As a result, NGOs design health 
activities, shelter interventions, and water, sanitation, and 
hygiene programs tQeduce risks to personal safety and involve 
communities and beneficiary populations in the decision-making 
process.  Beyond basic service provision, USAID/OFDA-funded NGO 
partners continue to provide assistance to families and communities 
that encourages social interaction and development of positive 
coping mechanisms, particularly for children.  USAID-supported NGOs 
Save the Children, Food for the Hungry (FH), and Project Concern 
International (PCI) are currently establishing "safe" or 
child-friendly spaces in spontaneous settlements and communities. 
These spaces are managed by trained community workers who 
facilitate play and monitor children for protection concerns, such 
as separation from family members. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Sexual and Gender-based Violence:  Protection 
mainstreaming is critical to minimizing risks for sexual and 
gender-based violence.  USAID-funded partners implementing 
emergency food, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene 
interventions continually seek ways to maximize safety for women 
and girls.  This is particularly apparent in the design of 
settlements, organization of food distribution points, and 
placement of water points and latrines.  As noted above, limited 
space in settlements reduces options for the placement of showers 
and latrinesQwever, NGOs are working with affected communities 
to provide adequate lighting and institute other safety measures. 
Partners distributing food assistance have reorganized the majority 
of sites to include a separate area within the perimeter for women 
to divide heavy bags into more manageable loads.  In addition, 
USAID/OFDA has funded FH and PCI to establish women's centers in 
 
affected areas, providing women with a safe place to meet, 
socialize, and seek support, if needed.  FH and PCI will also 
conduct campaigns to increase awareness of and sensitivities to 
gender-based violence, with the ultimate goal of reducing the 
number of incidents. 
 
 
 
¶10. (U) Child Protection:  USAID/OFDA partner Save the Children is 
currently developing a registration process for children separated 
from their families.  In close coordination with UNICEF and the 
GoH, Save the Children will manage the database and facilitate 
family tracing and reunification.  Save the Children is also 
training other NGOs to identify and register separated children 
that are encountered through other relief activities.  UNICEF is 
working with the GoH to ensure that unaccompanied children are 
placed in appropriate interim care arrangements. 
 
 
 
¶11.  (U) Orphanages:  During the two-week period of strong 
aftershocks, humanitarian agencies and many others raised concerns 
about children and staff living in earthquake-damaged orphanage 
buildings.  As a result, structural engineers from the 
USAID/OFDA-funded search and rescue teams conducted assessments of 
multiple orphanages in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, notifying 
management of potential hazards.  In addition, to meet immediate 
shelter needs of four orphanages in Port-au-Prince, USAID/OFDA has 
donated generators and 10 large weatherproof tents - complete with 
lighting systems.  Each tent, previously used by U.S. urban search 
and rescue (USAR) teams during the earthquake response, is valued 
at approximately $30,000. Other USAID/OFDA-donated items delivered 
by USAR teams included cots, sleeping bags, air mattresses, and 
bottled water. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (U) USAID/OFDA plans to provide additional support to 
orphanages with identified needs, in coordination with UNICEF and 
humanitarian partners.  However, the USAID/DART Protection Advisor 
emphasizes that relief agencies must ensure that orphanages do not 
receive a disproportionate amount of support in comparison to the 
general earthquake-affected population.  According to the advisor, 
disproportionate assistance may inadvertently encourage family 
separation and compel caregivers to put children in orphanages, 
where a higher level of assistance is assumed.  Therefore, 
USAID/OFDA will continue to balance assistance provided to 
vulnerable children in orphanages and those living with families in 
settlements and other earthquake-affected areas. 
 
 
 
¶13.  (U) To date, USAID/OFDA has provided nearly $3.3 million to 
partners for stand-alone protection activities, such as 
child-friendly spaces and training on gender-based violence.  The 
total does not include the value of the many protection benefits 
that stem from mainstreaming protection measures into the range of 
other humanitarian interventions. 
 
 
 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED 
LINDWALL