Restaveks

A Creole term for the 300,000 or so Haitian children sent away to work as domestic servants. (Restavek, also spelled restavec, is derived from the French, rester avec – stay with.)

In September 2008, Marc Lacey explained in The Times how some poverty-stricken Haitian parents send their children to live with wealthier relatives or strangers:

The term restaveks literally means “stay with,” and that is what the children do with their hosts, working as domestic servants in exchange for a roof over their head, some leftover food and, supposedly, the ability to go to school.

In practice, though, the restaveks are easy prey for exploitation. Human rights advocates say they are beaten, sexually abused and frequently denied access to education, since many host families believe that schooling will only make them less obedient.

Following a recent visit to Haiti, the U.N. human rights expert Gulnara Shahinian highlighted two developments concerning restaveks: the emergence of professional recruiters, paid to source children for urban clients; and the growing demand from poorer Haitian families for restavekchildren.

In May 2009, The Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation convened a conference to ameliorate the plight of Haiti’s estimated 300,000 restaveks. Jean Cadet, the organization’s founder, and a former restavek himself, noted that some Haitians still consider restaveks to be little more than “ti bet” – little animals:

For some [children] it is the chance to have food and go to school. But for others it is a life of servitude, no love, isolation and constant abuse – both physical and emotional.