Separated Haitian children risk being sold, trafficked or kept in slave-like conditions – UN human rights experts

whoiscarol — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:05:45 +0000

GENEVA ( February 2010) – “There is an increased risk of unaccompanied children in Haiti, including orphans and restaveks*, being abducted, enslaved, sold or trafficked, due to increased insecurity in the country,” a group of UN human rights experts warned Tuesday**.

The experts, who are mandated by the Human Rights Council to monitor slavery, sale of children, trafficking and violence against children, stressed that “protection of children must be at the heart of the relief operation in Haiti.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Independent Expert on Haiti have also emphasized the critical need to protect children in the chaotic aftermath of the earthquake, and in light of the particular dangers posed by thousands of gang-members and other criminals who escaped from prisons damaged by the quake.

“Unaccompanied children are particularly vulnerable and it is essential, wherever possible, to register, trace and reunite children with their families,” the UN experts said, adding that “during the evacuation efforts, it is imperative to avoid the unnecessary separation of families which may place children at higher risk, aggravate their trauma and distress and hinder their recovery and reintegration.”

The group praised the UN’s establishment of a ‘Child Protection Sub-Cluster,’ which is geared to safeguard children’s rights and prevent violence, abuse and exploitation, and highlighted the efforts of this body to set-up a rapid registration system for unaccompanied children. “One of their key goals is to register children under five, and older girls, children and youth with mental disabilities or serious injuries, as well as restaveks that have been separated from their ‘employers,’” the UN experts said. “We welcome this vital initiative.”

They also urged the international organizations and governments assisting Haitians “to ensure that the work on child protection remains a priority and continues to be properly funded and coordinated under the umbrella of the United Nations.”

(*) Restavek means “staying with” and refers to the Haitian system under which parents who cannot support their children send them to live with more affluent relatives or strangers from whom they are supposed to receive food, shelter and education in exchange for work. The Restaveksystem is prone to exploitation and sometimes leads to children being kept as virtual slaves.

(**) Ms. Gulnara Shahinian, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery; Ms. Najat M’jid Maalla, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children; and Ms. Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children.

Who can protect our children?

whoiscarol — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:00:19 +0000

By David Fisher

Our state services fail to protect some of New Zealand’s most severely abused children and allow them to be “revictimised”, according to research published in an international medical journal.

It says the child protection system could be seen as a “poorly controlled experiment” through the inability of government agencies to work together on cases of child abuse.

It follows two cases of alleged child abuse last week in Northland, one of which ended in the death of a 2-year-old. The child in the other case – a 17-month-old – was severely injured.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett met the families of the two children on Friday. “Protecting our most vulnerable children is of the highest priority to this Government,” she said afterwards.

Bennett will this week announce the reintroduction of the Never Shake A Baby Campaign.

“We are also progressing a plan on how agencies will better work together to ensure an abused child is protected if they have been hospitalised,” she said.

New figures from Starship hospital show the number of children under two with “inflicted traumatic brain injury” has risen sharply over a 20-year study period. They show that in 1988 one child was admitted with an inflicted head injury. Numbers peaked at 13 in 2006 and most recently at 11 children last year.

The report, published in the Child Abuse & Neglect International Journal, was written by two Starship doctors Patrick Kelly and Judith MacCormick, and an Auckland health board social worker Rebecca Strange, who works with child abuse victims.

It studies the fate of 39 children aged under two who were treated at Auckland Hospital for “shaken baby syndrome” during the 1990s. It follows their health and development for up to 17 years.

The “syndrome” has become a term for traumatic brain injury in infants. One of its common causes is hard, physical shaking of the child.

Most of the children are referred to in the report as “survivors” – six died in hospital and two others have died since, one 15-months later after complications from the original head injury. They were also mainly Maori – a staggering 77 per cent of the 39 children admitted to hospital.

By December 2007, the children had grown older – they ranged from nine years to 21 – and concerns about repeat abuse had been raised in 44 per cent of cases. This was a “major concern”, the report said.

It is particularly critical of the former Child Youth and Family service, now part of the Ministry of Social Development. Investigations of “doubtful quality” by CYF meant reports to the agency of fresh abuse against children – even in front of witnesses – would be treated as unproven, when they likely indicated serious risk.

CPIU » child protection

Separated Haitian children risk being sold, trafficked or kept in slave-like conditions – UN human rights experts

Who can protect our children?