Restavèk: the Life of Haiti's Most Vulnerable Population and the Fight Against Child Trafficking
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RESTAVÈK: THE LIFE OF HAITI'S MOST VULNERABLE POPULATION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CHILD TRAFFICKING by Fabienne Valmond A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Anthropology Committee: ___________________________________________ Director ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Department Chairperson ___________________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: _____________________________________ Spring Semester 2015 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Restavèk: The Life of Haiti's Most Vulnerable Population and the Fight against Child Trafficking A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at George Mason University by Fabienne Valmond Bachelor of Arts University of Georgia, 2007 Director: Cortney Hughes Rinker, Professor Department of Anthropology Spring Semester 2015 George Mason University Fairfax, VA This work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivs 3.0 unported license. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the boy who “stayed with” us. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I received a tremendous amount of invaluable guidance in the form of many tiresome hours over the course of a year editing this document, input and feedback on content, and help in sharping my arguments from three outstanding individuals: Dr. Cortney Hughes Rinker, Dr. Jeffrey W. Mantz and Dr. Satsuki Takahashi. I thank Cortney for her patience with me as my thesis director and her calm and thoughtful responses to my many questions and concerns and especially for editing my paper for grammar as well. I understand this must have been a daunting task as English is not my first language. I thank Jeff for his expertise on the Caribbean and the invaluable reading list he provided; and Satsuki for her insights into the structure and voice of this thesis and her advice for me to seek assistance from the writing center at George Mason University. I would like to thank the many friends and classmates who assisted me in my research, through peer- editing and feedbacks during writing sessions. And finally, I would like to thank my family, relatives and friends for the brief hiatus in contact while I dedicated the last few months on completing this thesis. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... ix Abstract ............................................................................................................................... x Introduction: “Think Globally, Act Locally” ...................................................................... 1 Defining Restavèk ........................................................................................................... 7 Defining Human Trafficking ........................................................................................... 9 Trafficking Pattern ........................................................................................................ 10 Defining Child Labor .................................................................................................... 11 What, How, Why: The Questions This Thesis Hopes to Answer ................................. 12 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 14 ChapTER ONE: methods and theories of identifying and classifying restavèk ............... 17 Methods and Data Sources ............................................................................................ 17 Semi-structured Interviews ........................................................................................... 25 The Participants ......................................................................................................... 26 Restavèk Stigmatization Impact on Data Collection ................................................. 27 Participant Observation ................................................................................................. 30 On Advocacy ............................................................................................................. 31 Textual Analysis ............................................................................................................ 32 Theoretical Framework: What the Experts Say about Restavèk ............................... 33 Chapter TWO: Historical Particularities of Haiti ............................................................. 35 Slavery and the Church ................................................................................................. 37 Colonial Conditions....................................................................................................... 38 Race Hierarchies: Big Whites, Little Whites, Half-castes, and Blacks ......................... 42 Uphill vs. Downhill ....................................................................................................... 46 Socioeconomic Status Indicators .................................................................................. 49 v On Land Ownership ...................................................................................................... 54 Neocolonialism.............................................................................................................. 57 Why the Poor Remain Poor ........................................................................................... 60 Chapter THREE: The Illusion of a better life ................................................................... 63 Theoretical Engagement of the Issues Introduced in Anita........................................... 67 Haitian Folklore Depicting the Suffering of Restavèks ................................................ 69 A Real Story about a Restavèk Boy .............................................................................. 71 Childhood Maltreatment in Haiti .................................................................................. 76 Child Development Theories ........................................................................................ 78 Stigmatization................................................................................................................ 81 Why Take the Risk? Push and Pull Factors? Structural Vulnerability ......................... 83 Chapter FOUR: the law and its limitations ....................................................................... 85 Adoption Laws and the Hierarchal Structure of the Practice ........................................ 93 conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 97 References ....................................................................................................................... 100 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1: Number of children ............................................................................................. 53 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: TIP Tier Placements .......................................................................................... 19 Figure 2: Hierarchy of children in Haitian Household ..................................................... 23 Figure 3: Matinet............................................................................................................... 65 Figure 4: Slave Whip ........................................................................................................ 65 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Institut Haïtien de Statistique et d'Informatique……………………………………………IHSI International Abolition Federation……………………………………………………..IAF Internally Displaced Persons…………………………………………………………...IDP International Labor Organization………………………………………………………ILO International Monetary Fund…………………………………………………………..IMF International Office for Migration…………………………………………………….IOM Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee……………………MLIHRC North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement……………………………………..............NAFTA Non-governmental Organizations……………………………………………………NGOs Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder………………………………………………………PTSD Trafficking in Persons…………………………………………………………………..TIP United Nations………………………………………………………………………….UN United Nations Environmental Program…………………………………………….UNEP United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti………………………..MINUSTAH United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes……………………………………...UNODC Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protect Act……………………………………TVPA 2WL……………………………………………………………………...Tier 2 Watch List 3*………………………………………………...Auto downgrade from Tier 2 Watch List ix ABSTRACT RESTAVÈK: THE LIFE OF HAITI'S MOST VULNERABLE POPULATION AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CHILD TRAFFICKING Fabienne Valmond, M.A. George Mason University, 2015 Thesis Director: Dr. Cortney Hughes Rinker The purpose of my research project was to conduct an in-depth analysis of restavèk, a social system in Haiti where parents send their children off to other families that potentially can give them a better life than the one in which they