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Restavèk: Four-year-old Servants in Haiti

By J. P. Slavin

Rivière Froide -- When she was only ten years old, the harsh realities of rural Haitian life irrevocably changed Celine Bouchon's* childhood.  Her family was offered a bone-chilling deal from a local businessman: release Celine to his care and he would arrange for her to work as a live-in domestic servant in the far off capital of Port-au-Prince.  Celine would not be paid, he said, but she would go to school.

Celine's relatives agreed to the offer because of their dismal economic plight.  Eighty percent of the country's rural population lives below the absolute poverty line, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).  With Celine in Port-au-Prince, her family would have one less child to feed.  Her relatives hoped that by letting her go, she might have a chance at a better life and an education, a highly prized but virtually unobtainable goal for many Haitian families.  More than half of the primary school students in Haiti never reach the fifth grade.

*not her real name

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RESTAVČK PROJECT
INFORMATION:
  Campaign Overview
  Introduction
  Definition
  Rights of the Child
  Where is Your Grown-up?
  How You Can Help
  Children of Shadows - 54-min documentary
  Defensora de la libertad
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
  Restavèk No More: Eliminating Child Slavery in Haiti - NCHR Report - April 18, 2002
  State Party Report - Haiti to the UN with Respect to the Convention on the Rights of the Child Submitted in 2001
  Ti Saintanise - restavèk story in Creole by Maurice Sixto
  NCHR Urges Haiti President to Fullfill Promises on Children's Rights
Restavčk: Four-year-old Servants in Haiti - Haiti Insight Dec '96 / Jan '97
RELATED EXTERNAL LINKS:
   Join NCHR in the March for Children's Rights
  Organizations
  Articles and Books


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