Thursday, during the meeting of the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights (CIDP) it was particularly question of the study on childhood domesticity in Haiti. A UNICEF team, accompanied by a representative of the organization "Free the Slaves" (study partner) presented the outline of this study it launched a month ago https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11286-haiti-social-nearly-3-of-children-in-the-country-are-restaveks.html

Through this study, the initiators intend to :

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the literature on children in domesticity ;

• Conduct an institutional analysis on issues of Child Labour and Child domestics ;

• Map and document migration involving children to communities "Employer" of children in domestic ;

• Provide a strategic framework for action for the development and implementation of programs covering the space of mobility of children in domestic service ;

• Participate in the validation of the study and the development of a national roadmap on child in domestic service.

Twenty organizations, including public institutions, are part of the Steering Committee of the study. The framework remains open to other organizations wishing to contribute to deepen reflections on the issue of children in domestic service, commonly called "Restavèk."

It is the FAFO, a Norwegian institute that is responsible for the realization of this study. The minister Rose Anne Auguste, coordinator of the CIDP, proposed a meeting between FAFO, the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics (IHSI), the National Observatory on Poverty and Social Exclusion (ONPES), the 'National Identification Office (ONI), the National Centre for Geo-Spatial Information (CNIGS) and the National Coordination of Food Security (CNSA) around this study.

According to her, these agencies are able to provide relevant information to the FAFO. CIDP members also believe that it is necessary to involve state institutions in this survey. Such an approach will, according to the Minister Augustus, to obtain reliable results.

The CIDP, in turn, can bring its "input" to the phase of recommendations and confirm the results of the study. Yves-Rody Jean,the representative of the Presidency considers that the initiators should considerto invite the American Embassy (State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)), which publishes regular reports on the situation of human rights, including the rights of the child, in Haiti.

Invited to this meeting of the CIDP, Mrs. Gertrude C. Séjour of the Maurice Sixto Foundation believes, too, that it is necessary to involve all the actors saying that "The phenomenon Restavèk is a problem for the entire Haitian society, not just the Haitian State". The Foundation wishes participated in the Steering Committee of the study, as is already the case for many organizations.

HL/ HaitiLibre