ARTICLE - PUT AN END TO CHILDREN DOMESTICITY

PUT AN END TO CHILDREN IN DOMESTICITY
(Haiti Libre) -

In a report marking June 12, 2012, the 10th anniversary of "World Day against Child Labour", the International Labour Organization (ILO) notes that there is still a wide gap between the ratification of Conventions on child labor, and the initiatives taken by countries to address the problem. The biggest difference between commitment and action occurs in the informal economy, which produces the majority of violations of fundamental rights of work. Children in rural and agricultural zones [...] are most at risk of being enrolled in child labor.

According to the ILO, 215 million children are working in the world. In Haiti, they are more than 29%, a phenomenon illegal under international conventions in force, on labor, trafficking and child rights. According to Nancy Robinson, Senior Technical Adviser to the ILO, child labor is an obstacle to children's rights and an obstacle to development. "By entering the labour market prematurely, they are deprived of this critical education and training that can help to lift them, their families and communities out of a cycle of poverty. In its worst forms, child labourers may also be exposed to physical, psychological or moral suffering that can cause long term damage to their lives."

The Chief Commissioner Jean Gardy Muscardin, Head of the Child Protection Brigade, stated that Haiti "has legal instruments to fight against the abuse suffered by children", with two laws passed in 2001 and 2003 respectively, on corporal punishment and the elimination of Chapter 9 of the Labor Code which addresses "Children in service"; but the country has not ratified the Universal Convention of International Labour Office on Child Labour [the Hague Convention was ratified yesterday Monday, June 11, 2012 in the Haitian Parliament.]

Despite the lack of recent statistics in Haiti, all protection actors agree that children in domestic service, commonly known in Haiti as "restaveks," are the most vulnerable fringe. "These are the invisible ones," explained Jean Liby, the Chief of Child Protection within UNICEF. "They are in homes, sometimes even in your homes." Placed by recruiters in families, these children are treated differently from children of the host family, and in a majority of cases they don't have access to education or medical care. A situation which according to the representative of UNICEF, is "not acceptable"; knowing that they are "particularly vulnerable to physical violence and abuse."

Also, to raise awareness in the public about this phenomenon which, according to the spokesman for the Coalition Against the Restavek System, Nadine François, "concerns us all." IOM has launched a major campaign this week. The important point of this campaign against child labor, is the reopening of the toll-free number 188, which allows victims or witnesses of abuse, and exploitation of children, to report these crimes, and to trigger the intervention of the Minor Protection Brigade.

Jean Gardy Muscadin, who leads the Minor Protection Brigade has 35 officers within the PNH, and invites the public to report such cases, to prevent and punish any individual engaged in violence, or the exploitation of children.