Deaf News: World Federation of the Deaf calls for end to human rights abuses in Haiti

Trigger warning: Sexual assault, murder and graphic descriptions of bodily harm.

The World Federation of the Deaf has called on decision makers to end human rights abuses against deaf people in Haiti, after an online petition shining light on the issue gained thousands of signatures.

According to the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Off-The-Grid Missions – a non-profit which focusses on providing life-saving resources to deaf and hard of hearing people around the world – a deaf woman in Haiti was recently “gang-raped, brutally tortured, had her organs extracted and murdered”.

The NGO says they have witnessed the murders of four deaf women who they knew through their work, with three of them killed in 2016. Their naked bodies, which had been beaten with their tongues cut out, were recovered by the local deaf community.

In a description on the Change.org petition’s webpage, Off-The-Grid Missions write: “The Deaf Community in Haiti stresses that, ‘Hearing people with disabilities have more access to education than deaf people do, so we are exploited into forced labor from a young age, molested by family members, doing slave work and when we make money, we must give that money to our ‘owners’.

“Some deaf children are forced to sleep separate from their hearing family members: on the ground, outside, or on the roof. They do this knowing we won’t be able to speak up.

“It is another reason why Haitian people, including those with disabilities that do not involve those with hearing loss, do not pay attention to the fact that deaf people continue to be brutally murdered; there is an overall lack of response, a significant lack of remorse,'” the deaf community’s message reads.

Off-The-Grid Missions go on to add that the incidents are suspected to be motivated by superstitions.

“Some Haitians believe disabilities are contagious or caused by a curse. Some people who claim to foresee the future believe that body parts, like tongues from fresh corpses, increase [the] chances of winning bets,” they said.

The view that disabled people are cursed, the NGO says, also means that they are “considered subhuman” by care professionals and medical practitioners.

“Last month, when a deaf woman sustained a gunshot wound to her belly, it took 18 hours of our team pressuring doctors to finally agree to remove the bullet that ruptured her intestines.

“Following the procedure, the hospital staff neglected to properly care for her. As a result, our team had to demand [for] her to be cared for properly.

“If our team was not there to fight for her basic human rights, she would not have received any medical response at all,” they write.

Alongside facing barriers to healthcare, deaf Haitians also reportedly face stigma through the offensive term ‘bèbè’, used to mock individuals who have difficulty speaking, and ‘muette’, meaning ‘mute’.

In a press release issued on Friday, the WFD said the details described by the deaf community in Haiti are “outrageous and egregious abuses of the most fundamental human rights” – both of deaf people and “all humanity”.

“Combined with ruthless violations of inherent physical and psychological integrity and dignity of deaf people, particularly of deaf women and girls, these conducts constitute breaches of several international human rights treaties, as well as regional and national legislations.

The WFD has received reports that in the last 5 years, several young #deafwomen in Haiti have been gang-raped, brutally tortured, their organs extracted and murdered. 🇭🇹
The WFD is standing up to break the silence around the systematic #HumanRights violation against #deaf people. pic.twitter.com/3z9YvRfs90

— World Federation of the Deaf (@WFDeaf_org) July 2, 2021

“Yet, these violations apparently have been ignored by the decision-makers and law enforcement officers who are obligated to prosecute, punish, and stop these systematic human rights transgressions and denial of basic access to rights, such as education, decent work and healthcare, on an equal basis with others.

“Together, we can stop these systemic human rights violations. Hand in hand, we are able to show the world our commitment to humanity, equality and diversity,” it reads.

The petition calls on 12 different individuals or organisations to take action in relation to the human rights abuses in Haiti, and has received more than 10,000 signatures at the time of writing.

Those petitioned include Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is requested to “condemn the [human rights] violations and call the Haitian government to take action”, and the World Bank, which is asked to direct funds “for protecting deaf children and deaf women against abuse in Haiti”.

They also request that aid charity UNICEF support Haitian deaf associations “to better protect deaf girls and youth”, and that the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Gerard Quinn, visits the country to gather evidence and produce a report on the matter.

More information about the petition can be found on Change.org’s website.

Photo: @WFDeaf_org/Twitter.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.