PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery issued a report condemning the Haitian “restavek” system as “a modern form of slavery”.  The “restavek”, meaning “to stay with us” in Creole, is a social system where Haitian children whose parents are unable to provide for them live with relatives or other persons who provide housing and food in exchange for housework.

The recent development of professional recruiters who recruit children from rural areas to work for urban families as child slaves in domestic work and outside the home in markets was of special concern.  The Rapporteur also mentioned the “alarming” shift in demand for child slaves from just rich families to poor families as well.

The Rapporteur recommended that the government establish a National Commission on children, with particular attention to those most vulnerable.  Other recommendations include: a sensitization campaign on the impact of labor and slavery on children, child registration, free and compulsory education for those most needy, and alternative means of income for rural families.

The Rapporteur stated that child labor “deprives children of their family environment and violates their most basic rights such as the rights to education, health and food as well as subjecting them to multiple forms of abuse, including economic exploitation, sexual violence and corporeal punishment, violating their fundamental right to protection from all forms of violence.”