Submitted by Bryan Schaaf on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 05:25.
Below is a commentary from global voices online concerning Denise's post on Restaveks. Denise can best respond, but I believe what she is saying is that, as embedded as this problem is in Haitian society, it is not going away anytime soon....regardless of wheter it is legal or not. In order to monitor it and regulate it, it would need to be legalized. Saying "This is a bad practice!" will not change that. We definitely, definitely would not want the policy regulating the issue - therefore, we propose the creation of a separate government agency with high level support. The agency would need to be transparent and we propose the secondment of human rights officials from NGOs to its staff. As a health care specialist who has met highly vulnerable, highly poor (and sick) families with fourteen children in the mountains, there is a place for family planning. Haitians can make the decision whether to do it or not, but they should have the resources and information to make an informed decision.
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2 Responses to “Haiti: Restavek”
December 18th, 2007 at 3:37 am 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.
Commentary from http://www.globalvoicesonline.com
Below is a commentary from global voices online concerning Denise's post on Restaveks. Denise can best respond, but I believe what she is saying is that, as embedded as this problem is in Haitian society, it is not going away anytime soon....regardless of wheter it is legal or not. In order to monitor it and regulate it, it would need to be legalized. Saying "This is a bad practice!" will not change that. We definitely, definitely would not want the policy regulating the issue - therefore, we propose the creation of a separate government agency with high level support. The agency would need to be transparent and we propose the secondment of human rights officials from NGOs to its staff. As a health care specialist who has met highly vulnerable, highly poor (and sick) families with fourteen children in the mountains, there is a place for family planning. Haitians can make the decision whether to do it or not, but they should have the resources and information to make an informed decision.
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2 Responses to “Haiti: Restavek”
December 18th, 2007 at 3:37 am 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.