Causes and Consequences of Human Trafficking in Haiti
Throughout the globe, whether a country is highly developed or unstable, all countries must face the issue of humanitarian crisis. These misfortunes can be triggered by human action or can occur involuntarily. Ranging from natural disasters, to diseases, to internal or external conflict, each has been proven to be detrimental to the stability of the society. Haiti has recently gotten attention for being simultaneously affected by multiple crises; each of which helps to place Haiti in a trap which they cannot lift themselves out of without foreign intervention and aid. Organizations such as the Jesuit Universities Humanitarian Action Network (JUHAN), a collaboration between Jesuit universities,
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Although Jean-Bertrand Aristide held the position of president, the society still suffered from brutal acts of violence. Due to the fear of being overthrown, the military acted in this way to divest the Haitian people of their freedoms (Americas Watch, 1). However, subsequent to Aristide’s resignation in early 2004, Haiti continued to struggle to gain control and organize law enforcement (2005 Trafficking in Persons Report). As if they did not already suffer from enough internal conflict and discord, the earthquake of 2010 only worsened the circumstances for Haiti. Infrastructure was destroyed, debris littered the streets and obstructed most of Port-au-Prince, families were displaced from their homes, and chaos was ensued. The chaos following the earthquake resulted in an increase in the number of restavek children in Haiti owing to the loss of resources by families and the elevated kidnapping rates. One of the most major effects the earthquake had on Haiti was the economic effect; it stripped possessions and resources from poverty-stricken families who were already struggling to make ends meet. Although they certainly wished to avoid it, sending their children into child labor or giving their bodies away for sex appeared to be the only viable option. Accordingly, the humanitarian crisis of the earthquake intensified the crisis of human trafficking. The presence of the problem of trafficking is familiar within Haiti, yet there is still no marked efforts to address the issue. Understandably, a problem cannot be fixed if there is no guidelines or punishments put in place. As stated in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, “The national police child protection unit, the Brigade for the Protection of Minors, does not pursue forced labor or forced prostitution cases because there is no statutory
Haiti is the unequivocally the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, indeed, the country is so poor that its citizen cannot even afford eating foods and Haitian children need to eat dirts to stay alive. [1] Nevertheless, Haiti is the home to the only successful slave rebellion; Toussaint Louverture, last governor of French Saint-Domingue, was born a slave.
The Republic of Haiti is in the western part of the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. It is densely populated and has the lowest per capita income in the western hemisphere (Kemp, 2001). The population of more than seven million is made up of mostly descendents of African slaves brought to the West Indies by French colonists. The horrible conditions in Haiti, such as crushing poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, and high rates of acute and chronic illnesses and child and infant mortality, result in the illegal immigration of many Haitians to the United States, France, and other countries in Western Europe. Most immigrants are adults and teens who leave Haiti in tiny boats, despite the risk of drowning and other hazards. According to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) 2001 statistics, the number of refugees has declined to several thousand per year since the early 1990’s.
Zanotti, L. (2010). Cacophonies of aid, failed state building and NGOs in Haiti: setting the stage for disaster, envisioning the future. Third World Quarterly, 31(5), 755-771.
Kolbe, Athena R., and Royce A. Hutson. “Human Rights Abuse and Other Criminal Violations in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti: A Random Survey of Households,” The Lancet 368.9538(2006): 864-73. ProQuest. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
There are many areas of the world where the most basic needs like clean drinking water, proper sanitation and medical care are just not available. When disaster strikes, the people living in these already disadvantaged areas are thrust into situations where death is almost always imminent. Reach Out WorldWide (“ROWW”) was started by a group of 6 men in California. They flew to Haiti and volunteered to help in whatever way they could after a massive earthquake devastated the country on January 12, 2010. While working in Haiti as medical aid volunteers, the group recognized the need for skilled people, supplies and urgency for a faster response when natural disasters strike.
Awareness of child sexual trafficking can be viewed as a balanced scale, with one side representing the country’s population that is fully informed of the issue, while the other side is either unaware or unattached to the issue. The public needs to have more involvement with this affair based on multiple concerns; first, the act of child sex trafficking itself is a serious crime that violates human rights (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Second, various negative health repercussion including transmittable sexual diseases, physical damages, mental disturbance, post traumatic stress disorders, and other illnesses plague many victims (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Third, sexual trafficking is responsible for generating poverty as a result of obstructing economic, and social development (Reid, 2012). Child sex trafficking proves to be a global dilemma affecting numerous countries
27 million people all over the world are currently being forced into human trafficking or modern day slavery, 161 countries including the US will be affected by human trafficking. 1 million children will be exploited by the commercial sex trade each year. Sex trafficking began in the 1700s in the United States. It hasn’t been stopped because it continues to increase over the years. Even though the law enforcement and people around the world could be strong enough to stop human trafficking, I believe this situation needs to be more focused on and stopped as soon as possible. Because Human Trafficking is increasing rapidly and Oklahoma is a cross-way for sex trafficking due to the interstates such as I-35, I-40 and I-44.
The economics of Haiti has deceased in the last 4 years after the devastating earthquake that struck it 4 years ago. The Haiti economy has become very poor and one of the poorest country in the south, Central America and Caribbean region making it ranked 24 out of 29 countries in this area and its overall score is below average. Haiti’s economic freedom is 48.1 making it economy the 151st freest country while in the last several years Declines in the management of government spending, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom make its overall score 2.6 points lower than last year. Recovering from the disastrous earthquake in 2010 with the support of the U.S. recovering efforts “Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue, assisted by substantial aid from the international community. Governing institutions remain weak and inefficient, and overall progress has not been substantial. The parliament has not renewed the mandate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which had been tasked with overseeing reconstruction efforts but was unpopular.”( .heritage.org). The open market of Haiti trade weighted to be 2.1 this is because the lack of tariffs hamper the trade freedom of Haiti. Foreign investors are given national treatment but the investment is small and the financial sector is remained underdeveloped and does not provide any adequate support.
There are 300,000 children living as Restaveks in Haiti. The children you see below were “Restaveks,” or “slave children” here in Haiti, who now has a better life through the Restavek Freedom Foundation. We love sharing the food God has blessed us with, especially with ministries that help many of these children. We share two containers of food each month with many other ministries like this. We have to raise the fund the cost of shipping and transportation funds for each container, which totals $10,000. We trust God for a miracle each
Several of the problems that Haiti faces today have their genesis in the country’s colonial history. The country was like a toy being fought over by spoiled children. The first of these children arrived in the early sixteenth century in the form of Spanish settlers in search of gold. They enslaved the native Taino population and, poisoned by avarice, nearly eradicated the indigenous work force. Thousands of African slaves were brought in to take their place. Eventually, the Spanish left the island to grab their share of newly discovered treasure in other lands. Tiring of their toy, the Spanish
Haitian culture is a mixed native Indians, African slaves, and French and Spaniard settlers. After Haiti gained its independence there was much political and economical turmoil. When Haitian immigrated to the United States, many became doctors, teachers, social workers, and professionals. Although there was Haitian success stories there are more stories of failure and hopelessness because of the worry of being deported and the racism that they encounter. Through the field of social work would like to help these people get established in this country and as a Christian I would love to give them hope.
Leinwand, Donna, Marisol Bello, and Martha T. Moore. "In Haiti, Children Are the Most Vulnerable - USATODAY.com." In Haiti, Children Are the Most Vulnerable - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
“Modern-day slavery and the sex trade in the United States has become a $28 billion dollar industry, rivaling drug trafficking” (Tomas 1). “Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime and the third largest organized crime in the world after the drug and arms trade. UNICEF estimates that 5.5 million children are trafficked globally every year”(Ezeobi 2). “Dec. 6 of this year marks 150 years since the ratification of the 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery in the United States”(Krulak 1). “In spite of more than a decade of efforts to rescue victims and raise awareness, the overall problem of modern-day slavery is actually getting worse” (Krulak 2). “Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world”(Krulak 2). “We’ve seen increases in trafficking case filed, prosecuted and convicted”(Perez 1). “The NHTRC received reports of 9,298 unique cases of human trafficking”(Lee 2). “Of those cases, 64% involved sex trafficking, 22% involved labor trafficking, nearly 3% involved both sex and labor trafficking”(Lee 2). An additional 12% were unspecified”(Lee 2). “The National Center for missing and Exploited Children says at least 100,000 children across the country ate trafficked each year”(Alcindor 1). “Polaris project, a non-profit that runs the national human trafficking hotline, has received 58, 911 calls since December 2007”(Alcindor 3). At least 2,081 callers have identified themselves as a
The United States has one of the largest percentages of trafficked humans worldwide, however so many individual are unaware of this issue. As many as 17,500 individuals are thought to be trafficked into the United Stated annually, and some have estimated that 100,000 U.S. citizen children are victims of trafficking within the U.S. (Siskin & Wyler, 2010). Since many cases go unreported, these estimates may be fewer than the actual number of victims in the US. There is substantial evidence that supports the ideology that woman and children from low socio-economic status are most likely targeted (Okech, Morreau, & Benson, 2011), of all the people trafficked each year about 70 percent of women and 50 percent are children that are mainly forced into the sex trade (Human Trafficking Statistics). Among socio-economic problems, the trafficking business feeds on conditions of vulnerability, such as family conflicts, natural disasters, youth, ignorance, gender, social exclusion, political instabil...
The Trafficking of children and women for sexual mistreatment has become a key worry for nearly all governments as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) not overlooking the media. Up to date, accounts in the United States regarding human trafficking for sexual exploitations have shown that the matter is a national problem that is on the rise (Wheaton & Schauer, 2012). A projected 60,000 women and children are trafficked each year in the United States. These women and children come generally from the Latin America, South East Asia and some countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern and Central Europe.