Haiti's child slaves land country high on new global slavery index
The global slavery index considers Haitian children sent to live with wealthier families and serve as household servants 鈥� a common practice 鈥� modern-day slaves.
Slavery is alive and thriving, a new report says.聽
But many of the 29 million modern day slaves might challenge your concept of who is a slave. It might be an indebted laborer, a victim of human trafficking, or, in the case of Haiti, the child working in the kitchen.
used an expanded definition of slavery to produce what it says is a first-of-its-kind look at the practice in the modern world.
鈥淚t would be comforting to think that slavery is a relic of history, but it remains a scar on humanity on every continent,鈥� says Nick Grono, CEO the Australia-based foundation that produced the , the first of a planned annual publication.聽
Nearly half of the world鈥檚 slaves live in India. But the index ranked 162 countries according to the percentage of enslaved people in the general population. Western Africa鈥檚 Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan had the three highest rates of slavery, respectively, according to the index.
While Mauritania鈥檚 140,000 to 160,000 enslaved people fit more closely with the historical perception of who is a slave, Haiti provides a different face to the practice.
Haiti鈥檚 200,000 to 220,000 enslaved people are mostly children who live with families not their own, working as household servants in the Caribbean country鈥檚 complex and long-standing 谤别蝉迟补惫猫办听蝉测蝉迟别尘.
Under 谤别蝉迟补惫猫办聽(a Haitian creole word derived from French meaning 鈥渙ne who stays with鈥�), poor, often rural, families send their children to live with a family of better means, usually in urban areas. The children are sent with the understanding that the family will clothe, feed, quarter, and educate them in exchange for their work. 聽
But inside the homes, 鈥渕any of these children suffer the cruelest form of neglect 鈥� denied food, water, a bed to sleep in, and constant physical and emotional聽abuse,鈥� the report says.聽
The group estimates that between 300,000 and 500,000 children are in a similar circumstance, according to information it gathered on the ground. It is unclear why they counted some, but not all, 谤别蝉迟补惫猫办聽children as slaves.
In compiling the index, researchers defined slavery as 鈥渢he possession and control of a person 鈥� with the intent of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer, or disposal.鈥澛�
Some have argued against defining slavery so broadly, based in part on its historic significance.
In The Haitian Times last year, columnist Max Joseph wrote, 鈥淔or Haitians, or any member of the African Diaspora for that matter, the word 鈥榮lavery鈥� is distinctively associated with the transatlantic slave trade in which millions of Africans were forcibly uprooted from their villages and sold like domesticated animals in faraway lands.
鈥淭he notion of associating the 谤别蝉迟补惫猫办聽phenomenon with slavery is a naked attempt at trivializing one of the most grotesque episodes in human history,鈥� Mr. Joseph wrote.聽
In its report, the foundation says it鈥檚 important to focus on 鈥渉idden鈥� enslaved people, such as 谤别蝉迟补惫猫办听肠丑颈濒诲谤别苍.听
鈥淪ince hidden slaves can鈥檛 be counted it is easy to pretend they don鈥檛 exist. The Index aims to change that,鈥� Kevin Bales, the lead researcher on the index, said in a statement.
Countries with the five highest rates of slavery:
- Mauritania
- Haiti
- Pakistan
- India
- Nepal
*The United States ranked No. 134聽of 162