Eleventh Congress of the
International Association of
Women Judges
Intervention on human trafficking in Haiti
Nora Jean-Francois
Executive Director of the
Haitian Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges (CHAIFEJ)
On behalf of CHAIFEJ, I congratulate the International Association of
Women Judges and the Association of Women Judges of the United
Kingdom especially the Justice Brenda Hale who made possible the
organization of the eleventh Congress.
A big thank you also for having associated Chaifej this plenary session
by inviting me to speak on the subject of human trafficking in Haiti.
As a representative of an organization that works on this theme with the
support of the IAWJ and the Department of American States, it is an
honor for me to respond to this invitation, because I think one of
mission of justice in any country is to promote respect for fundamental
human rights of everyone.
The world we live in today is characterized by a high mutation is the
result of globalization. The media increasingly sophisticated new
technologies of information and communication, travel facilities,
strengthen exchanges between peoples. A feature of this global
change, too, is growing demand from people for the respect of their
fundamental rights.
It is therefore appropriate that the structures, institutions, professional
organizations, the judiciary especially women judges, take on the tone
of this movement
by making respect for human rights the compass that guides their
actions.
Discuss the phenomenon of trafficking in person, it is just talking a
matter of serious violations of human rights. It is therefore important
that women judges are
very interested because they have an important role to play to reign in
our respective countries a culture of human rights.
What is human trafficking?
The Additional Protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime on trafficking (Palermo Protocol), gives the following definition:
"Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of persons by threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, of abduction , fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve
consent of a person having control over another person for exploitation .
Exploitation shall include, at minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of
others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or
practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;
c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for
exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not
involve any of the means set forth in paragraph a) of this section;
d) "Child" means any person under the age of 18.
A fundamental consideration in the definition of trafficking, it is coercion,
duress: the person is forced, coerced several forms (threats, lies) to the
operation of his body or his labor.
A fundamental consideration in the definition of trafficking, it is coercion,
duress: the person is forced, coerced several forms (threats, lies) to the
operation of his body or his labor. Human trafficking is sometimes
confused with irregular migration, that is to say when people voluntarily
agree to a cross border migration by violating a law, usually in search of
work. However, if the two are distinct, the partition between the two is
not always right. There are a lot of people in search of better living
conditions that are willing to travel illegally by violating immigration law
and find themselves in situations of trafficking, unable to cope. Some
data on trafficking in the world and Haiti It is extremely difficult to find
figures on the phenomenon. However, all opinions and many examples
are consistent to say that this is an important phenomenon that affects
thousands of people on the planet and big-money. That's why, over the
past decade, many countries, international organizations, parliaments
of, socio-professional associations, human rights, all over the world
have studied this question.
Globally, an estimated 800 to 1000 to 2,000,000 the number of annual victims
of trafficking. 79% of them are related to sexual exploitation (UNODC Report
2009). It is also necessary to emphasize that this form of transnational
organized crime is an extremely flourishing market that comes in third place,
after drug trafficking and gun smuggling. Note well that a person can travel on a
regular basis with passport and visa and end up in a trafficking situation.
In Haiti, the phenomenon of trafficking is present. Haitians are subjected to
trafficking both within the country in foreign territory.
Inside the country we have the phenomenon of child "Restavec" which is a
form of trafficking. According to figures provided by several organizations, from
200.000 to 250.000 Haitian children would find themselves in domestic service.
Of very poor parents, often with a numerous offspring, decide to transfer their
child to another person, often a family friend or relative, hoping that the latter or
the latter will send the child to school, he feeding and treating them to help
them grow in better conditions than those offered by his family. In reality, these
children are exploited, the vast majority of girls are abused, discriminated
against. They often work all day, have no spare time, rarely attend school and
do not receive the same considerations as other children of the house.
Restavec system in Haiti has been denounced in many areas and in national
and international reports.
Internationally, we meet Haitians minors and / or adults who also
live in situations of trafficking. While we have no precise figures,
we know for example that of the
20 to 30,000 people each year who cross the border into the
Dominican Republic in search of a better life, between 5 and
10% would be in situations of trafficking.
These are often people who are deceived by traffickers they
make false promises to help them find work in neighboring
territory. They can end up in forced labor in
fields or in prostitution. There are also cases of children who
went missing in Haiti and who were found in the Dominican
Republic. Some illustrations:
a) A girl missing after the earthquake in Haiti was found in Santo Domingo
- During the month of July 2010, a 7 year old, a college student congregational Port-auPrince who had disappeared the day of the earthquake was located in the Dominican
Republic, specifically in Santo Domingo. The house where she lived with her parents had
collapsed the day of the earthquake and the parents had never seen his body. Everyone
thought she was dead. Six months later, a Haitian trader making the trip Port-auPrince/Santo Domingo returned one day travel to the mother saying she saw her child in
Santo Domingo. The latter could not believe it. She gave him a picture of the child and
described some signs on his body that could help identify it. The trader has returned after
a few weeks to confirm that it was good of the child. The parents took a trip to the
Dominican Republic and found the child. The girl lived in a house inhabited by Haitians
who often left alone without food. She slept on the floor and not attending any school.
Parents took their child and returned with it. A representative of GARR saw the child at
his school and had the opportunity to converse with her on this painful experience.
b)The case of Dieula Dieuli and John (nicknames to disguise the true nature of
children. In May 1994, twins were born in Port-au-Prince. In October 1999, two
children disappeared without trace in front of their school. Parents have no
news of them until July 2003. The father, looking for 5 years, went to Santo
Domingo to continue his research. One day he sees his daughter to pass in the
street and managed to come away with it. Continued research will put in the
footsteps of the little boy Dieuly. Him, he was received in February 2002 by a
religious institution, Villa Bendición in Santo Domingo. The photos show that
when the child was greeted at the orphanage, he was in terrible shape.
Pictures shown to the father show signs of malnutrition and abuse on the child's
body and emotional imbalance. After returning to Port-au-Prince with her two
children, the father wanted to take legal action to see who had done this deed?
But it was really difficult to argue with his record. These are only two cases of
children who demonstrate an everyday reality rather important is happening
before our eyes.
A study by IOM and UNICEF in 2000 showed that around 2,500 Haitian
children are trafficked to the northern border each year. After the earthquake
the situation became more catastrophically. To illustrate, here is a text
published on 6 June 2008, Border Solidarity, an office of the Jesuit Service for
Refugees and Migrants settled in the northern border, specifically the Chaifej
Ouanaminthe has a visit in December 2011 Child trafficker caught in the act .
Note Border Solidarity
At around 9 am, Friday, June 6, 2008, a child trafficker was caught at
the border of Dajabon red-handed, with four children two, three, four
and six years. Border Solidarity Haiti was able to identify the trafficker
by the name of John Paul Frandominique and the house where he had
hidden children. The trafficker confessed to having paid 150 pesos a
captain dominicain to help cross the river Massacre with children.
Human trafficking is a criminal activity, daily and well organized which is
realized Ouanamithe and many other surrounding communities.
Traffickers, who typically trafficked men, are using these days for
women and children. From January to April 2008, Border Solidarity
recorded in 1353 children who were trafficked across the border
between Haiti and the Dominican Republic using various crossing
points in border villages such as: Mellac, Fort-Liberté, Ferrier, Acul-ofPins, Ouanaminthe, and Mont-Organized Capotille. We know that the
figures are far from reality, because many more children are trafficked
by organized criminals who seek to enrich themselves dishonestly
using the vulnerability of defenseless people. Traffickers use a variety
of strategies to hide their crimes and divert the attention of the
authorities and human rights defenders working in the area.
It is difficult to know for what purposes these children are trafficked,
especially when they are found in such infants. However, other studies
have shown that there is a network between Haiti and the Dominican
Republic who will look for children to transport them there for the
purpose of exploitation. Groups of children are placed in the morning in
the corners of the main streets of big cities Dominicans to beg. At night,
they are "collected" by the same persons. The money they get to collect
is shared between the traffickers and their relatives in Haiti (which
generally unaware of what they are) in violation of the Convention on
the Worst Forms of Child Labour
Human trafficking also affects adults. Many adults have found
themselves in the territory of neighboring cane fields to work while the
Buscon (the trafficker) had promised to bring them to the capital where
they would find a paying job. Not speaking the language, not knowing
the locations and often guarded militarily, it is extremely difficult for
these people to flee and leave.
Regarding women, some are brought into prostitution rings or
are sexually abused during the journey. I will read the testimony
of four found, against their will in prostitution rings. These
testimonies were gathered by journalists 25 November 2008 and
were the subject of a newspaper article.
"16 years old, admitted in 6th year of basic, I could not go to
school because my mother had no means with his ten children.
So I decided to go to the Dominican Republic, "says Dadoune,
24 years. "A trafficker helped me cross the border into
neighboring land, he sold me to a man. It locked me up for 2
years in a house where he beat me all day long. He broke my
leg. I cried every day to let me go, he always refused. Nobody in
my family knew where I was. One day, a friend helped me to
escape. Now I have a child that I am both mother and father,
"she told reporters.
Another Haitian, Chantal, 27, in tears, described the gang rape she
suffered during a trip to the border illegally. The smuggler who was
driving had arranged with other men to commit the rape and locked her
up in a house shortly after he made her his sex slave.
"I had two children, their father had died. I wondered what I was going
to send them to school. Suddenly, a man asked me to go to the
Dominican Republic in search of wellness. So I decided to go there. I
sold for 3,000 gourdes the two goats of my children, and I gave money
to the smuggler. During the trip, at Belladères, 15 men boarded the
vehicle. After crossing the border, near Elias Piña, the boatman asked
us to come down to better deceive the vigilance of the authorities
Dominicans. He then said if I did not agree to sleep with him, I could
not get to destination. Given this situation, I had to give. His package is
complete, another came and raped me. Several other men have done
the same. When I started to complain saying that I could not go, one of
them beat me and tore my clothes "who testified Chantal became
pregnant and gave birth to a child it ignores the father's identity. It is
now stigmatized in her community.
In turn, Yvonia, 28, told the press his ordeal: "I had three (3) children, I
have four (4) currently. I crossed the border with a smuggler. He has
seized 3,000 bottles that were in my bag. He lunged at me, tore my
clothes, raped me and left me in the bushes. Shortly after, three other
Dominicans arrived, I was beaten and raped, "she said."
The main causes of human trafficking in Haiti
The main causes of the persistence of trafficking and trafficking in Haiti
are economic and social development. Dominates when the
transgenerational transmission of unemployment, when the family does
not transmit anything other than the vunerabilite, when young people
find no job prospects, they easily fall into the traps of traffickers who
make them false promises.
Natural disasters such as Haiti has just experienced over the last three
years are aggravating factors that encourage trafficking and human
trafficking, because the face of danger that threatens their lives, many
people need to move to search of better living conditions and traffickers
take advantage of this situation.
But the persistence of the phenomenon is also related to the weakness
of the state in managing its population and migration, lack of
awareness of Police officers, Justice and Local Authorities on their role
in the fight against the phenomenon. It is also due to the absence of a
legal framework that represses internal trafficking and trafficking and to
protect victims and potential victims. The case Laura Silsby after the
earthquake and how the Haitian justice system has treated this case is
a clear example of the weaknesses of the judicial system in this area.
Here is a text published by GARR in May 2010, following the decision
of Justice to release Laura Silsby.
The case Laura Silsby: Travel irregular or trafficking of children?
The Support Group for Repatriates and Refugees (GARR) was
shocked to learn the release, May 17, 2010, Mrs. Laura Silsby, an
American missionary convicted in organizing travel without documents
and without the presence of their parents , a group of 33 Haitian
children after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. According to
information, justice described the offense of "irregular travel" and set
the sentence to three (3) months on the basis of the decree of
November 1980. Previously, nine (9) other persons who accompanied
Ms. Silsby, had been released.
Is it a simple trip irregular or trafficked children, as specified in
the "Additional Protocol to the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children "?
According to Article 3 of Protocol, "the expression Trafficking in
Persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, .......
transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by threat of use, or use
force or other forms of coercion, such as ....... position of
vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve consent of a person having control over another , the
purpose of exploitation. "
In the case Silsby, if there is no evidence that parents of children
had been cashed and that the intent of the mission was to exploit
them, it is clear that she used the situation of vulnerability in
which these were families in the aftermath of the earthquake to
move with their children without regard to any legal procedure.
In the absence of legislation on trafficking, the Haitian justice system
seems to have chosen a palliative, using the decree of November 1980
Travel irregular, which prescribes penalties of three to six months. Yet a
draft law prepared by an Interministerial Group considers trafficking as
a crime and provides in Chapter 4, Article 11 sentences ranging from 7
to 15 years imprisonment. Unfortunately, this text, though appearing on
the legislative agenda, has never been voted by Parliament despite the
repeated requests from human rights organizations and the many
commitments made by the Haitian national and international.
The decision of Justice in Case Haitian Silsby is a sharp decline in the
fight against trafficking and human trafficking. It projects a negative
image of the country and an unwillingness on the part of the State to
protect its nationals. It is also a signal to traffickers and perpetrators of
trafficking to continue their crimes without any concern.
A recall that in March 2009, Haiti has renewed its commitment by
ratifying the International Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime and its two additional protocols. Over the last five years, several
officials including MPs and government members, took part in regional
conferences, including the OAS held around the same subject.
Please note that Haiti is subject to periodic evaluation reports,
especially from the U.S. State Department, on concrete actions
against smuggling and trafficking in persons, especially children.
The Chaifej renews its request that the Haitian government
meets its commitments to fight against trafficking of children and
will continue its advocacy for the country is finally adopted
legislation on trafficking and human trafficking. That is why the
Chaifej in collaboration with the IAWJ have initiated work
sessions with magistrates in particular prosecutors to better
casework for victims of trafficking Visits by the Chaifej at the
borders of Ouanminthe in the North East and Malpasse in
Western countries have demonstrated the laxity of state
authorities, a lack of border control especially at night or there is
not even the police presence.
In conclusion, we say that human trafficking is a well in Haiti this
deserves to be fought with the utmost rigor. We welcome the
interest shown by the international association of women judges
to initiate a process of reflection on this subject. We hope that
the judges of this association and all judicial systems incorporate
this concern that trafficking in person is no longer tolerated in
Haiti and around the world.
Thank you.
Church House Conference Centre
London