strategies for a developing world…

Tag Archive for ‘children’

Haiti: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Today, May 18 marks the 207th anniversary of an event that sealed for good the fate of the French Empire in North America. On this day, the seeds of an independent Haiti were planted when blacks and colored, former slaves and free people of color, vowed to life free in a land that they controlled or they would die trying. These men and women proved to the world then that they were the equal of others in all aspects. How did the pearl of the Antilles turn 200 years later into the poorest country in the western hemisphere? And can it rise from the most devastating earthquake so far this century?

I am Haiti too!

Six months of meticulous research, planning, preparation, coordination, partnerships and team building led to an exceptionally well-organized and fruitful conference under the able hands of the Jean Robert Cadet Restavec Foundation and The Maurice Sixto Foundation.

Honor Your Children Today!

November 20 is known as Universal Children’s Day. It is the day when the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and 30 years later in 1989 the Convention on the Rights of the Child. I truly hope that President Barack Obama will direct his administration to do what none of the American Presidents since 1989 have been willing to do: proclaim that the US will not only ratify the Convention but champion its observance throughout the world with meaningful policy initiatives.

Coming to terms with child slavery in Haiti

the restavèk system is so deeply rooted in Haitian customs that most Haitians either do not or refuse to identify it for what it is: child slavery. And when they are confronted with the facts, they tend to initially deny it. Redemption begins with neither denying nor hiding the truth.

Restavèk: Slavery No Matter How You Slice It

Today in Haiti, at least one in ten children does everything for free – getting up long before dawn, going to bed (on the floor) long after dark, doing all of the work of the house in the hours in between. In the case of the restavèk system, the main reason the child is in the home is to work. It is not for the sake of the child; it is for the sake of the child’s masters

Free the Child, Emancipate the Mind

Sign a petition addressed to the Haitian authorities and their international allies and calling for the elimination of child slavery in Haiti for good.

What if Haitian Athletes Defected in China?

Ten athletes are competing in the Beijing Olympics under the Haitian flag. They are in a country that has leaped ahead in last 60 years while Haiti remains saddled with a political economy and mindset that has barely moved away from the day it gained independance.

Let’s Really Put a Stop to Child Slavery in Haiti!

Modern-day child slavery reigns supreme in Haiti where slaves successfully broke their chains and established an independent republic freed of French colonialism and declared themselves the equals of all men regardless of race, or color. The time has come to eliminate the restavek system as child slavery is known in Haiti.

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