Legal Curriculum on Restavèk Children in Haiti

The document was prepared by three law students under Clinical Professor Susan M. Akram of Boston University School of Law as background for stakeholder meetings planned for September 2012. It describes the restavèk practice, in which poor families send children to work as domestic servants for other households, and cites estimates of 150,000 to 500,000 such children. It reviews the international treaties Haiti has signed or ratified on children's rights, child labor, trafficking and adoption, and the Haitian laws on employment, child welfare, criminal law and adoption.

It finds that Haiti has laws that could address the practice but cannot enforce them, since the responsible agency, IBESR, is understaffed and under-equipped. It notes that Haiti has no criminal anti-trafficking statute and that current adoption law does not cover restavèk placements. Each section ends with questions on how legal workers, NGOs and the law school could strengthen enforcement and draft new legislation.