29172: Tate (news) Haitis Dirty Little Secret: the Problem of Child Slavery (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Samantha Tate <samantaray71@hotmail.com>

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

Press Releases, Haiti, Front Page

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

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.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Michale Sheckleford
September 14th, 2006
Word Count: 1100