Human Trafficking in [Haiti Street Children in [Haiti] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Haiti] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Haiti [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Haiti has been in
transition since widespread violence and political instability led to the
resignation of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Since release
of the 2006 Report, the country has undergone three rounds of national and
local elections: presidential and parliamentary elections took place in
spring 2006, and follow-up parliamentary and municipal elections were
completed in December 2006. During the reporting period, Haiti struggled to
establish a newly elected government and control rampant violence and crime
in its capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti remains the least developed nation in
the Western Hemisphere, and is one of the poorest countries in the world,
with an average per capita income of less than $500 per year, and an
unemployment rate of nearly 40 percent. The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti
currently has more than 6,500 troops and 1,600 UN police on the ground to
reduce gang violence and kidnappings. Due to the absence of government
institutions and a well-trained and equipped national police force, Haiti has
been inhibited from addressing its significant human-trafficking challenges.
Haiti remains a special case for a second consecutive year in recognition of
its transitional status: Its government must be in place and secure before
trafficking can be meaningfully addressed. However, the U.S. government
anticipates that trafficking in Haiti can be assessed in next year's Report.
The following background and recommendations are provided to help guide
officials of the new government. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Quick Search for Missing Children
- Select Gender, Country ( U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - A common form of exploitive child labor in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Rural
families continued to send young children, particularly girls, to more affluent
city dwellers to serve as restaveks in exchange for that child's room and
board. While some restaveks received adequate care, including an education,
the Ministry of Social Affairs believed that many employers compelled the
children to work long hours, provided them little nourishment, and frequently
abused them. The majority of restaveks worked in low-income homes where
conditions, food, and education for non-biological children were not
priorities. The results of the most recent
study of trafficking across the border conducted by UNICEF in 2002 reported
that between two thousand and three thousand children were trafficked to the Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child - 2003 [60] The Committee is deeply
concerned at the high incidence of trafficking of children from Assistance
for children victims of human trafficking in Haiti After the death of his father,
Daniel was torn from his sobbing mother to work in Port-au-Prince to
alleviate the family's extreme poverty. In one of the capital's many
shantytowns that suffer from neglected infrastructure and income-generation
needs, a poor "host family" recruited Daniel as unremunerated
domestic labor to fetch water from distant distribution points, among other
tasks. Daniel says he felt "not
human" when preparing the children's uniforms and lunches while being
denied an education himself. Despite being regularly humiliated, abused and
under-fed, Daniel did not attempt to return home alone lest he be forced to
join the street children. Survival
is Greatest Challenge for Haiti's Children Violence and Abuse. There are thousands
of street children throughout Haiti. Many children are forced to fight in
gangs or become part of the restavek subculture of bonded servitude, where
300,000 children work as unpaid domestic servants. Girls account for
three-quarters of these workers. 30,000
Haitian children smuggled annually Around 30,000 Haitian children are
illegally smuggled into the Haitian
Children Sold as Slave Laborers and Prostitutes On market day in Dajabón, a
bustling Dominican town on the Haitian border, you can pick up many bargains
if you know where to look. You can haggle the price of a live chicken down to
40 pesos (72p); wrestle 10lb of macaroni from 60 to 50 pesos; and, with some
discreet inquiries, buy a Haitian child for the equivalent of £54.22. There is a thriving trade in Haitian
children in the Servitude's chains steal childhoods Each day, 13-year-old Claudia
Lundi wakes at 4 a.m. and begins cooking, sweeping, fetching water and doing
other household chores that last until well after sunset. She sleeps on the concrete floor cushioned
by a pile of clothing and eats sparingly, alone, in the kitchen. "If I
don't finish my work they will beat me up," said Claudia, picking
nervously at her fingernails. "They beat me with a whip all over my
body." HAITI - In Haiti, Mr. Apollos Laurore was appointed the
OAS consultant responsible for working in conjunction with the
anti-trafficking in persons unit of the Haitian National Police (PNH), known
as the Minors’ Protection Brigade (Brigade de Protection des Mineurs, BPM).
The OAS project aims to support the country in its efforts combating human trafficking
and has the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade of the Canadian government. The project will assist the professional
training of the police, oversight of the international resources made
available to the BPM, and the organization of activities in the area. In
addition, the research project into trafficking in persons in Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study ARCHIVES 2005 Child domestics are hidden away and thus difficult to
reach, count, investigate or rescue. 2004 [CHILDREN AT RISK] often given away or sold.
… not paid for their work and often abused 2004 Beaten, raped, and forced to work as a maid and serve,
since the age of 9, as a sex slave 2004 Haiti's
Tarnished Children – Report on Haitian child labor [PDF] 2004 300,000 restavecs - young children trafficked to urban
areas to work as domestic servants 2004 [Events since that time] 90 to 300,000 children (age 4 to
14) used as unpaid domestic labor 2003 2003 [see HAITI - SUGAR SLAVES]
"He took me across the border and sold me … for $8" 2002 Haitian Coalition Unveils Report on
Slavery and Trafficking of Haitian Children
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Human Trafficking in [Haiti Street Children in [Haiti] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Haiti] [other countries]