Talk about a bitter irony: Haitian slaves were among the first to liberate themselves (from ownership by French colonists), and yet, on the island that once stood as a beacon encouraging others to strive toward freedom, children are held as “domestic chattels.” From the story in the Telegraph: “Although the restavek system is not illegal, those who work with its victims do not hesitate to brand it slavery. Marline Mondesir, the director of a local organisation which supports child domestics said: ‘These children are slaves, because they are the first to wake in the morning and the last to go to bed. They get beaten up and there’s nobody to speak up for them. One child we helped had his head cut open with a machete, another had her back slashed with a razor blade, another was burned with hot oil and another had his arm broken.’
“Many are beaten with stiff cowhide whips, known as rigoises, which are designed for use on children and are widely available in shops. More than 70 per cent of child domestics are girls and sexual abuse is so common that restaveks are said to be ‘la pou sa’—‘there for that.’”
It is to deny one’s own human exceptionalism to keep slaves and treat anyone in this manner. May we all support those who work to turn the term “domestic chattels” into an oxymoron.
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