Sent by Leita Kaldi

We are proud, and excited, to see that CNN has recognized one of our heroes, Malya Villard-Appolon, as a 2012 CNN Hero. Malya is a co-founder of KOFAVIV, and a stunningly persistent and effective advocate for poor women in Haiti who are victims of sexual assault.

The CNN article recounts Malya’s personal fight to overcome great obstacles, and KOFAVIV’s inspiring work since Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. But there is much more to Malya’s story. She has been organizing on behalf of women victims of rape since 1994, and helped found KOFAVIV back in 2004, working hard for many years without recognition. KOFAVIV is not just helping many individual victims, it is  successfully challenging unjust systems that silence poor women’s voices and make rape easy to commit and hard to prosecute.

The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and our Haitian sister organization, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux,are proud of Malya Villard-Appolon and her KOFAVIV colleagues, and are honored to have collaborated with them since 1994.

To read the CNN article, click HERE.

For more information about our collaboration, see the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project section of our website.