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Doctors at War, Partners Provide First Response in Haiti to Stop Human Trafficking

Doctors At War is partnering with Global Centurion, Renewal Forum, Fondation Espoir, World Hope International, Salvation Army, Olive Branch International, Doctors at War, Christian Medical Association, The Home Foundation, Equitas, and Call and Response as well as other relief and development, community, and faith-based organizations on the ground in Haiti to create a first response campaign to stop potential human trafficking. The purpose of the partnership is to develop and distribute simple, clear information campaigns designed to prevent human trafficking in the wake of the disaster.

The Problem

The earthquake in Haiti has created a state of emergency. The crisis is of epic proportions, and disaster relief teams are struggling to rescue Haitians and provide food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance, and other emergency relief. Over the next weeks this work will continue, but a secondary phenomenon is already developing: hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced from their homes. Many are wandering in the streets, afraid to go inside for fear of aftershocks. Thousands are migrating in search of food, clothing, shelter and medical services. From previous experience, we know that natural disasters present dangerous secondary circumstances which may, if not addressed on the front end, result human trafficking.

A Bottle of Water and a Basic Message

Working with those already on the ground, the GC campaign will deliver simple, clear information on the dangers of human trafficking, exploitation, and other forms of violence in the wake of the disaster. The message, in English and Creole, will be wrapped around a bottle of water.

1. Message on a Bottle. The campaign will begin immediately, with a series of brightly colored messages wrapped around a bottle of water, to be distributed by relief and development organizations, churches and faith-based organizations, community centers and others.

2. PSAs. Since half the Haitian population is not literate, radio and television must also be utilized to spread simple messages raising awareness of the heightened danger of human trafficking after the earthquake.

3. Website. A special website, modeled after the Tsunami.com website, will have information, prevention messages, missing persons bulletin boards, and more to help build awareness and facilitate communications.

Fast Action

It is critical to engage some organizations in this work now, while the first disaster relief efforts are beginning. After the tsunami, it was only after there were already widespread reports of incidents of predators that international organizations took action, partnering with nongovernmental organizations on the ground in the affected areas, and suggesting steps to reduce the opportunities for exploitation, such as the identification and registration of children in camps and the education of relief and development works, health providers, missionaries and others on the increased dangers of trafficking. If you would like to participate in these activities, or contribute money toward these efforts, please contact us:

Contact:

Laura J. Lederer
Vice President | Global Centurion
703 919 6828 (cell)
703 815 8501 (landline)
202 546 8172 (office)

Dr. Daniel Bercu
President & Founder | Doctors At War, Inc.
615 969 8983 (cell)
888 552 8927 (toll free)

Haiti and Human Trafficking

Background

Prior to the earthquake, Haiti has been a country of origin for both labor and sex trafficking. There are three serious forms of human trafficking in Haiti: first, the restavek phenomenon in which children are at high risk for both labor trafficking and sexual exploitation, child sex tourism, and child sex trafficking;1 second, persons compelled by economic pressures to emigrate to the Dominican Republic in search of work. Many of the Haitians working in the “Bateyes,” the sugar plantations of the Dominican Republic, are trapped in conditions of slavery. If they escape the Bateyes, they are often employed in the Dominican construction sector, a sector where Haitians are very proficient (according to research by the Fondation Espoir); third, and perhaps of greatest concern is the cross migration of children (from Haiti into the Dominican Republic, from the DR into Haiti) for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Haitian children are exploited in the prosperous tourist and resort industries of the Dominican coasts; the Dominican children (and internally trafficked Haitian children) are exploited in brothels catering to U.N. peacekeepers and other foreign nationals. A 2002 IOM/UNICEF study found that annually more than 2,000 children, mainly from three geographical departments of Haiti (North, North-east and North-west), are trafficked to the Dominican Republic. Many of them are exploited for the purposes of both labor and commercial sex. There is also anecdotal evidence of the sale of children by orphanages, either into illegal (and potentially exploitative) adoptions or, more gruesomely, for organ retrieval or child prostitution. The problem was serious in Haiti before the earthquake because of the overall lack of basic human rights, a weak criminal justice infrastructure, and generalized societal violence. The potential for exacerbation of this situation following the earthquake heightens the urgency.

“Restaveks” (derived from the Creole for “stay with”) are children of poor families who are sent to work in households of greater means. These children are at high risk for exploitation, both for labor and sexual purposes. This population of potential victims has been estimated by UNICEF and Save the Children to range between 176,000 and 300,000.