Combating Child Labor in Haiti
“Ending Modern-Day Slavery”
In modern Haiti more than 300,000 children are victims of domestic slavery. In Haitian Creole they are called “restaveks” from the French “rester avec” meaning “stay with.” Many parents, who live in poverty, are unable to feed their children and give them away to orphanages or to more affluent families, hoping that their child will be fed, cared for, and sent to school. Unfortunately, that’s not often the case. But, with few exceptions, these children become slaves, working in the homes of their “masters” from early morning till night.
Many of the restaveks are not permitted to go to school and are exposed to domestic and sexual violence. Children as young as 4 years old are involved in this practice. This situation is so serious that Anti-Slavery stated that, in its experience, “the practice of restavèk in Haiti constitutes one of the worst and most widespread manifestations of domestic child servitude to be found anywhere in the world”.