Haiti: Restavek

Monday, December 17th, 2007 @ 10:54 UTC

by Janine Mendes-Franco

Countries:
Haiti
Topics:
Ideas, Children, Cyber-Activism, Economics, Education, Finance, Gender, Human Rights, Labor, Youth

Denise Green at Haiti Innovation blogs about the island's Restavek situation.

2 comments

  • Magbana

    I am a little confused about who is the author of this blog post – Denise Green or Bryan Schaaf who is on the Board of “Haiti Innovation” and works for the US State Dept.

    At first, I was delighted to see the topic of restaveks being highlighted on the blog, that is, until I saw the proposed solutions:
    -I don’t think it is a good idea, straight out of the box, to advocate “family planning” programs to address the restavek problem. It carries some very serious race and class implications and is best left to the Haitian government for discussion and action.
    -So, you think legalizing the restavek situation is a good idea?? These are minor children, overwhelmingly female, and you want to further institutionalize this slavery? Further, legalizing this practice suggests that the Haitian National Police (HNP) would be the enforcer. If you recall, the HNP is best known for its summary executions of Aristide supporters after the coup and its specialty was assassinating unarmed Aristide supporters during legal demonstrations.
    -You want to collaborate with the National Coalition on Haitian Rights? Are you aware that in the months after the coup the NCHR collaborated with the illegal government and the HNP to finger people falsely for arrest or worse. Hundreds of innocent Lavalas people went to prison and death squads on false claims made by NCHR. In fact, their behavior was so criminal, that their counterpart in New York had to break relations and give their group a different name. Former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune was detained in prison for 26 months based on a false claim by the National Coalition for Haitian Rights.

    I would go back to the drawing board if I were you.

    # 2007-12-18 at 3:37 am
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  • JoJo

    Here is a nice article detailing the activities of those supposedly “non-violent” Lavalas supporters. Aristide was just another dictator, violent and corrupt, and former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune was his accomplice. Wake up, Magbana.

    Militias’ might key to Aristide’s grip on power

    By Steven Dudley
    Boston Globe Correspondent | February 19, 2004

    http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2004/02/19/militias_might_key_to_aristides_grip_on_power?mode=PF

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Their leaders have ominous names like “One Shot to the Head” and “Caesarean Section.” They have up to 30 men in each group, many of them teens, patrolling neighborhoods across the city with M-4 carbines and Beretta 9mm handguns with which they enforce their own justice….

    # 2007-12-18 at 13:31 pm
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