225,000 Haitian Kids Forced to Work as Unpaid Domestic Servants; Subjected to Cruelty, Abuse
December 22, 2009Nearly a quarter million impoverished children - mostly young girls - are forced to work as unpaid domestic servants in major Haitian cities, according to the first major survey of Haiti's human rights situation, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) announced. Called restaveks, these very poor children are sent by their parents to live in other homes with the idea that they would have access to education and food. PADF's ground-breaking study, which focused on key neighborhoods in five major cities, found that 16 percent of all children are restaveks. "Restaveks are prone to beatings, sexual assaults and other abuses by host families," says Herve Rakoto Razafimbahiny, PADF's Protecting Human Rights in Haiti Program Director. "This major survey is a key tool in our efforts to eliminate this stain on dignity." Full release.