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Haiti's Dirty Little Secret: Child Slavery

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

[this paper must have been written much earlier than its publicatuion by COHA.
The Non-Aligned Summit began on Sep 11, 2006 and ended on Sept 16. This was
not published until September 14, by which time pretty much all the work of
the Summit was completed, leaving only the appearances of the heads of state
and the ceremonial signings. -NY Transfer]

Council on Hemispheric Affairs - Sep 14, 2006
http://www.coha.org/2006/09/14/haiti%%e2%%80%%99s-dirty-little-secret-the-problem.../

Haiti's Dirty Little Secret: the Problem of Child Slavery

Child slavery is endemic in a number of developing nations and must be
addressed at the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana

by Michale Sheckleford

In Haiti, the institution of slavery survives in the form of restavec, a
system of forced child labour. Restavec is the Haitian Creole term meaning
"stay with" and has its origins in the legacy of slavery, the sharply
hierarchical class structure and the grinding poverty of Haiti's masses.
Haiti has the dubious distinction of being the poorest nation in the
Western Hemisphere, with a malnutrition rate of 56 percent. Additionally,
Haiti is also a country with a distinctively uneven distribution of income,
where approximately 45 percent of the country's wealth is owned by one
percent of the population.

As a result of decades of economic stagnation, irresponsible rule and
political corruption, over 70 percent of the population lives in wrenching
poverty. The conditions are so severe that many parents send their children
away to live in the homes of the wealthier families in the usually vain
hope that they will receive proper clothing and formal education. Public
education is free, but the costs of uniforms, textbooks as well as other
school supplies are beyond the reach of most struggling parents. As a
result, only 65 percent of the elementary-school-aged children are enrolled
in Haiti's primary schools, and of this number, only 35 percent will
graduate. At the secondary level, this picture becomes even more dismal, as
the number of students enrolled drops to 20 percent. Even though most
Haitians highly esteem education, such conditions have forced parents to
send their children to work for more privileged families in a situation
akin to slavery. Tragically, Haiti lacks the ability to enforce current
legislation prohibiting child labour. It is thus imperative for the
international community to redouble its efforts to help Haiti rid itself of
this heinous exploitation of children.

The practice of child slavery is not limited to Haiti. Rather, under
various guises, there are millions of children working in similar
conditions throughout the developing world. This issue begs to be placed on
the agenda of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana, where immediate
action regarding this practice should be called upon.

The Incidence and Horrors of Child Labour in Haiti

According to the Haitian government, there are about 90,000 to 120,000
children in bondage, but UNICEF estimates significantly larger numbers,
ranging from 250,000 to 300,000. Very little child labour is used in the
formal sectors of the country and is largely confined to the informal
underbelly of the economy and the domestic sphere. However, desperate rural
families bring their children into Port-Au-Prince and other urban areas to
work as domestics in the homes of well-to-do families, who ostensibly
should be providing them with schooling in return. However, these children
often perform the most wretched of tasks that hired help refuse to do, such
as emptying bedpans and walking for miles fetching water. They are also
forced to work very long hours without compensation and are harshly
brutalized for even the slightest mistake or neglect of a duty. They are
frequently subject to severe physical abuse, as their owners often beat
them mercilessly with cowhide switches manufactured especially for that
purpose, for the most minor of infractions. These children are exposed to
insensible acts of violence, such as one girl who was set ablaze because
allegedly her employers wanted to find out if hairspray was flammable.

Over 70 percent of the restavecs are girls, most of whom range from as
young as 3 to 15 years of age. Many of them are virtually enslaved by
individuals who are situated in only slightly better circumstances, who
otherwise could not afford to hire domestics. In a class-based society such
as Haiti, the ownership of a restavec elevates one a few rungs on the
social ladder. Restavecs are often made to sleep on the floor, usually
under a table, on a pile of rags or on a piece of dirty cardboard outside
of the family's home. Moreover, they are easily identified on the streets
by their tattered clothing. It is devastatingly common for young, female
restavecs to be subjected to repeated rape by male members of the "host
family." When their owners have no further use for them, these children are
often thrust out onto the streets after being severely beaten or sexually
abused. Since these children have not received the education promised by
their "hosts," they have little opportunity to improve their situation at
the close of their servitude.

The Apathy of the International Community

Without the capacity and the funding to enforce the labour laws, the deeply
entrenched practice of child slavery will continue to plague Haitian
society. Haiti has undergone decades of political instability and
governmental corruption, in addition to stringent economic sanctions.
Moreover, Haiti's dismal economic situation continues to fuel the restavec
practice. Since 2000, the current Bush administration has stood in the way
of over $500 million in much-needed loans from international financial
organizations to the Haitian government, in order to express its
displeasure at Aristide's democratically-elected government. Included in
this figure was a loan package of $146 million from the Inter-American
Development Bank aimed at improving healthcare, access to sanitary water
supplies and education, all of which could have improved the desperate
situation facing Haiti's children.

The Challenge to the International Community

Child slavery is so ingrained in the national psyche that many Haitians do
not feel that the practice is particularly odious. In a society sharply
divided by colour and class, many of those who occupy the lower rungs of
the socioeconomic ladder are not considered fully human and are thus not
accorded basic human rights, especially the restavecs. Given Haiti's
current lack of state capacity, it is doubtful that the government will
make any significant inroads on this social blight for years to come,
especially in light of the privileged classes' opposition to any justice
measures designed to uplift Haiti's poor.

Due to Haitian society's silent acceptance of this deplorable practice,
there needs to be increased media attention and international condemnation
of the restavec system to bring this dirty little secret to light. The U.S,
which strategically fabricated and then indignantly denounced human
trafficking in Venezuela, is suspiciously quiet when it comes to the woeful
plight of Haiti, over which it has unique stewardship. Instead of
manipulating the issue of human trafficking to suit its diplomatic goals,
or ignoring it altogether, it is imperative that the international
community take serious action to eliminate the existence of child slavery
worldwide.

*
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