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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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