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Abolishing Slavery in Haiti (Again)
By Erline Vendredi, Haiti
Lutchilla, a 22 year old Haitian, believes that her country is exceptional because it was the first black nation to abolish slavery. Indeed, her pride is shared with many Haitians.
"The Haitian people must reject child exploitation. If their ancestors were brave enough to stand against Napoleon’s army and win, then they can stand up to child slavery today." -Erline Vendredi
But did the revolution of St. Domingue (1791) and the Independence War (1803) actually cut the chains of slavery and social discrimination? Were Haitian heroes General Toussaint, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Rigaud's efforts to emancipate Haitians from French colonists in vain?
Slavery still exists in Haiti. While those who are its victims do not wear chains, they are nonetheless subjugated to some of the worst human rights abuses one can imagine.
Called "restavek" (in Haitian Creole this translates to "staying with") Haiti's victims of slavery are mostly children who come from the countryside to Port-au-Prince or Pétion-ville to work as housekeepers or perform other menial labor.
While families are promised that their children will be treated well and given an education, often the opposite is true. "[The families] want these kids to stay ignorant so they can use them as they want," said Wilson, a part-time teacher at three private schools in Haiti.
These children are often beaten and sexually abused. Some restavek overlook the abuse and meager meals - sometimes just one piece of bread a day - as long as they are allowed to go to school.
As in the time of colonization, testimony against a family's maltreatment and exploitation of the children carries little legal weight. Knowing that their children have no rights makes it quite insane that parents can still give their children away.
But if you ask Annette, a mother of six children, she will say that giving her daughter to a family so she could work for an education was the only solution God provided her. Now her 17 year old daughter has escaped from her host family.
"They were maybe treating her bad," she said. Now Annette is afraid that her daughter might become a delinquent, living in the public plaza, possibly becoming a member of the next generation of gangsters. With no one to take care of them, many children steal and sell drugs just to survive.
Given the fact that many households have a daily income of less than a dollar a day, the promise that their child will be educated in a wealthier home seems like a dream. Education in Haiti is primarily private and there is no such thing as government welfare programs. If parents cannot feed or pay to educate their children, no one will do it for them.
Solutions to this burgeoning issue are imperative otherwise Haiti will inherit a generation of uneducated people who will cause the society and the economy to further decline.
It might take time for the Preval-Alexis' government to solve these social problems but something must be done to protect enslaved children who are cruelly exploited. Preval is one of the few politicians who understands the issues that confront the Haitian people really well. He knows that economic and social disparity are the underlying causes of violence the country faced several years ago. The people chose him to govern the nation because they had faith in him; most of them believe that he can bring equity to the nation.
If the government can create more jobs, build more schools and develop social programs, fewer parents will have to give their children away for false promises. This should not be just the work of government. The Haitian people must reject child exploitation. If their ancestors were brave enough to stand against Napoleon's army and win, then they can stand up to child slavery today. Only in so doing will this nation will truly abolish slavery.
