Haiti's Submission for Sixth Annual TIP Report

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000415

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR DSTEWART
WHA/PPC MPUCCETTI
G/TIP ROWEN

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SMIG PREF ELAB ASEC KCRM KWMN KFRD HA
SUBJECT: Haiti's Submission for Sixth Annual TIP Report

REF: SecState 3836


1. The following are Post's responses to reftel questions.


2. Overview of Haiti's activities to eliminate trafficking
in persons:


A. Trafficking in persons in Haiti mainly involved the
internal movement of children from the countryside into
urban areas for domestic labor in a practice called, in
Creole, "restavek" (derived from the French words "rester
avec" meaning to stay with). Throughout the reporting
period, poor, rural families continued to send their
children to work as domestics for wealthy families or less
poor family members in the hopes that the child will enjoy a
better quality of life and receive an education. Girls,
between the ages of six and fourteen, are more vulnerable
for placement in urban households, while boys usually
fulfill agricultural servitude roles. The informal practice
has existed in Haiti for centuries and is directly related
to the country's poverty and lack of economic alternatives.
While some restaveks received adequate care including an
education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and NGOs believed
that many employers compelled the children to work long
hours, provided them little nourishment, and frequently beat
and abused them. The majority of restaveks worked in homes
where the yearly income was very low, so conditions, food,
and education for nonbiological children were not
priorities. Although not all "restaveks" are victimized in
this process, significant numbers are sexually exploited or
otherwise abused. Reliable figures are difficult to obtain,
but the Government of Haiti estimates that from 90,000 to
120,000 children are restaveks; UNICEF estimates that there
are between 250,000-300,000 restaveks in the country. A
recent USAID-funded study conducted by Glenn Smucker and
Gerald Murray estimated that currently 700,000 Haitian
children live away from their parents outside of the home.


B. While most trafficking occurs within the country's
borders, Haitian children also are trafficked into the
Dominican Republic where some are similarly exploited.
Large numbers of Haitian economic migrants illegally enter
the Dominican Republic where some become trafficking
victims. Recent figures are not available, but the most
recent study of trafficking across the border in August
2002, conducted jointly by UNICEF and IOM, found that
between 2,000 and 3,000 Haitian children were sent to the
Dominican Republic each year.

On a smaller scale, Haiti is a transit and destination
country. Women from the Dominican Republic are trafficked
into Haiti for prostitution. Reports indicate that many of
these women travel voluntarily, but some are victims of
trafficking.


C. The government's ability to adequately address the
trafficking problem continued to be hampered by lack of
available government resources to devote to the issue and
perpetually weak institutions.


D. The GOH does not have a systematic monitoring mechanism
for its anti-trafficking efforts.


3. Prevention Efforts:


A. The Interim Government of Haiti does acknowledge that
trafficking is a problem and has taken some steps, following
a major political crisis and limited internal resources, to
address the issue with international assistance.


B. The Ministries of Labor and Social Welfare, Interior,
Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Haitian National Police's
(HNP) Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM),and the
Social Welfare Institute (IBESR).

C, D. Most of the anti-trafficking information or education
campaigns in Haiti have been sponsored by NGOs with the
cooperation of the government, but no solely government-run
campaigns.


E. The government maintains positive relationships with
NGO's and civil society groups working to address the issue.
GOH officials often participates in seminars and projects
sponsored by NGOs, such as Pan American Development
Foundation (PADF).


F. The government lacks the capacity to sufficiently monitor
its borders. As part of an initiative launched in 2003 to
increase vigilance at border checkpoints, the HNP and the
Ministry of the Interior has posted border control agents at
the international airport to watch for children who might be
traveling unaccompanied and/or without their parents.
Despite this progress, effective control of the
Haitian/Dominican border remains problematic due to vast
expanses of the border that are difficult to patrol and
corrupt officials on both sides of the border.


G. There was an anti-trafficking inter-ministerial task
force established in 2003, but the task force hasn't been
active since February 2004.


H. The government does not have a national action plan to
fight trafficking and has asked for assistance from UNICEF
and NGO's such as PADF and IOM, in the formulation of a new
plan.


4. Investigations and Prosecution


A. Haiti does not have a law specifically prohibiting
trafficking in persons, either for sexual or non-sexual
purposes. In September 2005, President Boniface Alexandre
issued a decree criminalizing rape and making it punishable
by law.


B. There are no penalties for sexual or labor exploitation
in Haiti.


C. The penalty for rape in Haiti is 10 years; 15 years for
aggravated rape and life or hard labor for premeditated and
planned rape.


D. Prostitution is illegal in Haiti.


E. The government has not prosecuted any cases against
traffickers in Haiti.


F. See 2 A and B. Concerning the internal trafficking of
restaveks, there is not one entity behind the activity.
Rather, the arrangements are made ad hoc between the
families of the children and the receiving families. There
is evidence that the trafficking to the Dominican Republic
and other Caribbean islands is conducted by freelance
traffickers and small crime rings.


G. The government does not have the capacity to actively
investigate cases of trafficking.


H. The government does not provide specialized anti-
trafficking training for government officials, but does
participate in training offered by NGOs. Additionally, the
Haitian National Police signed an agreement for the UN
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to provide specialized child
protection training to its new recruit classes (?). All 778
new recruits participated in the courses as a component of
their initial police training.


I. Post is not aware of GOH's cooperation with other
governments on trafficking prosecutions.


J. N/A.


K. There was no evidence that the authorities were complicit
in trafficking of persons.


L. N/A.


M. N/A.


N. In August 2005, the GOH ratified the Inter-American
Convention on International Traffic in Minors as well as the
UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its
supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.


5. Protection and Assistance to Victims


A. The government continues to lack sufficient resources
to dedicate to the protection and rescue of trafficking
victims. Despite the lack of resources, the GOH (note: you
used GOH above.) has made some progress on rescue and
protection of trafficking victims. On November 5, the
Haitian National Police, in coordination with MINUSTAH and
the Dominican Consul General, conducted an operation to
rescue 13 young Dominican women who had been trafficked to
Haiti and forced to work in a brothel. Police arrested a
Haitian man named "Tines" as a suspect involved in the
trafficking. All 13 girls were repatriated to the Dominican
Republic on November 6. "Tines" remains in prison in Port-
au-Prince for suspicion of trafficking.

The government social welfare agency, IBESR, lacks the
resources to provide temporary shelter to rescued restaveks
while offering them educational, medical and psychological
services. In 2005, the government reopened a shelter in
Carrefour hoping to alleviate capacity restraints, but
staffing and budgetary issues rendered the shelter
nonfunctional.


B. No such funding or support exists.


C. See 5.A.


D. Most of the victims of internal trafficking, the children
who are rescued from abusive "restavek" situations, are not
treated as criminals by the government. However, the
government does not have the means to adequately assist them
and as a result most end up re-trafficked.


E. N/A.


F. Rescued restaveks are placed in available shelter space
provided by NGOs. (Query: If it is "nonfunctional" how are
they placed there?) Protection for witnesses does not apply
in Haiti since there have been no arrests or prosecutions.


G. The PADF training program for GOH officials includes
training on recognizing potential trafficking victims,
especially targeted at border officials.


H. Post is not aware of any repatriated nationals who were
victims of trafficking.


I. The government's social services agency, IBESR,
cooperates with a number of NGOs in providing services, such
as resettlement and job training to rescue restaveks, most
notably Foyer Maurice Sixto.


6. Embassy Human Rights Officer Dana Banks is the point of
contact on trafficking issues. She can be reached at (509)
222-0200, ext. 8270, IVG 271, and fax number (509) 223-9038,
email: BanksD@state.gov. Poloff spent approximately 15
hours on compiling and drafting the report.