[child-rights] CRC 32nd Session: Report of Haiti examined

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release

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xxxxxxxxxxCOMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF 
HAITIxxxxxxxxxx

CRC
32nd session
27 January 2003

The Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed today an initial
report of Haiti, questioning a Government delegation among other
things on the situation and treatment of child domestic workers
("restavek"), the use of corporal punishment, and absence of a
national plan of action for children.

The report was introduced by Charles Etzer, Ambassador and Permanent
Representative of Haiti to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who
said the country had undergone profound political and economic
changes over the last decade, but despite its difficulties it had
been able to take a series of measures to aid children.

Mr. Etzer explained that a group of Government officials scheduled to
arrive from the country's capital to present the report had not been
able to come, and added that because the Haitian Parliament was
currently not operational, draft bills submitted by the Government,
including one to establish a code of child rights, were still
pending.

Responding to questions put by Committee members, Mr. Etzer and
several Geneva-based colleagues said among other things that steps
were being taken to reduce discrimination against girls, to combat a
high rate of teenage pregnancy, and to protect children from sexual
exploitation to which they were sometimes vulnerable because of the
country's widespread poverty.

The Committee will release its concluding observations on the initial
report of Haiti towards the end of its three-week session, which
concludes on Friday, 31 January.

Other members of the Haitian delegation were Eucher Luc Joseph,
Minister-Counsellor, and Moetsi Michelle Duchatellier, Counsellor, of
the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations Office at
Geneva.

As one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, Haiti must present periodic reports to the Committee on the
status of the country's children.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. Tuesday, it will take up a
second periodic report of Iceland (document CRC/C/83/Add.5).

Initial Report of Haiti

The report (CRC/C/51/Add.7) describes some of the measures taken by
the State party to promote and protect the rights of the child. It
says the accession of Haiti to the Convention has not sufficed to
ensure the implementation of the Convention -- that application has
suffered from political developments characterized by instability on
the one hand and attempts at administrative reform on the other.

The report notes that in 1995, Haiti was just emerging from a lengthy
crisis caused by the military coup d'etat of 1991. The political
turbulence has never enabled successive governments to integrate all
the provisions of the Convention systematically into State strategy.
In the traditional activities of the State in the social domain,
concerned with the welfare of all, especially the Haitian child, the
application of the Convention has always been watered down, the
report contends. However, the advances recorded since the
ratification of the Convention illustrate and strengthen the position
of Haiti. The country is now closely involved in building the destiny
of its children.

There is a widespread desire to bring the issue of the rights of the
child to the forefront, naturally with the support of the Convention,
the report states, and better results can be expected in the years to
come.

Introduction of Report

CHARLES ETZER, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Haiti to
the United Nations Office at Geneva, said a delegation that was
scheduled to arrive from the capital to present the report and answer
questions could not make it for various reasons. Haiti had ratified
the Convention in 1994.

Haiti had undergone profound changes, both politically and
economically, over the last decade, Mr. Etzer said. Despite those
changes and the problems encountered, the Government had undertaken a
series of measures in favour of the rights of the child. Although
there was no specific legal definition of the child, any person who
was not 18 years of age was considered a minor. The civil code had
fixed the minimum age for employment at 15, and the age of the
criminal responsibility at 16. However, children aged between 13 and
16 who committed crimes and serious offences were taken before the
Juvenile Court. Only minors who had reached the age of 16 at the
times of there offences were taken before the Juvenile Assize Court.

Mr. Etzer said a draft bill on the rights of the child had been
submitted to the country's Parliament several years ago, and the
Government was still looking forward to its adoption. Various
ministries had been responsible for the promotion and protection of
the rights of the child. An inter-ministerial commission had also
been created in 1997 to coordinate the implementation of the
provisions of the Convention and to aid in the defence of the child.

Mr. Etzer said the needs of Haitian children were far from being
fully satisfied due to a lack of resources. Child mortality was high,
at 105.7 per thousand. The Government had taken measures to improve
the situation in cooperation with United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Discussion

Committee Experts raised numerous questions under the main subjects
of the general measures of the implementation of the Convention; and
the legal definition of the child. The questions focused on such
issues as the absence of a national plan of action for children; the
role of the inter-ministerial commission for the defence of the
child; corporal punishment; the status of children born out of
wedlock; training of children on their rights; domestic service by
children; illiteracy; protection against HIV/AIDS; the role of the
child protection office, or the Ombudsman; registration of births;
and the participation of Haiti in international and regional
cooperation.

Responding, the delegation said among other things that negotiations
were under way between the Government and the opposition on how to
hold early elections which might allow proper functioning of
Parliament. Because of the current Parliamentary impasse, several
drafts bills were still pending.

The Government had not yet succeeded in freeing funds frozen by donor
countries, particularly by the European Union, the delegation said.
Some of those funds might have been used for helping Haitian
children.

The law on the establishment of the child Ombudsman had been entered
into force four years ago, and the Office was already functioning,
the delegation said. So far one case of child abuse had been dealt
with by the Ombudsman.

The child was venerated by Haitian society and parents did everything
in caring for their children, the delegation said. The problem caused
by domestic service -- "Restavek" -- had its roots in economic
difficulties. In some cases children working as domestics were badly
treated when they misbehaved. They could be beaten and subjected to
other forms of violence. The situation was more serious for children
working in poor families.

The delegation said Haitian legislation referred the child as a
"minor". The Civil Code defined a minor as a person of either sex who
had not yet reached the age of 18, which was the age of civil and
political majority and matrimonial capability. A girl who became
pregnant before reaching the age of majority might marry the baby's
father provided her parents consented and the "President of the
Republic authorized the marriage".

Corporal punishment or the exploitation of children in any other way
was prohibited by Haitian law, the delegation said. Children could
enter domestic service at the age of 12, although the official
minimum age for employment was 15. Poverty was forcing parents to
send their children into service with other families. The Government
believed that domestic service should be regulated by law and that
children involved in such activities should be protected.

Children in distressed situations had access to a hotline, the
delegation said. Some non-governmental organizations and teachers
helped children to use such telephone lines. There were no
statistical data on the number of children who used the hotline.

The last national budget had been adopted exceptionally by the
Executive because of the non-functioning of the country's legislative
body, the delegation said.

Committee Experts went on to raise further questions on the main
issues of general principles of the Convention; civil rights and
freedoms; and family environment and alternative care. The questions
focused, among other things, on the issuance of falsified birth
certificates; zero-tolerance measures and police brutality against
children; abortion; protection of children from accidents and
suicide; imprisonment of pregnant mothers; abandoned children; the
empowerment of women; international adoption; and separation of
children from their parents for various reasons.

Transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to a child had been reduced
thanks to measures implemented by the State, the delegation said. The
rate of HIV/AIDS infection in general was high compared with other
countries of the region.

Children born of Haitian parents living in the Dominican Republic
were not considered Dominicans, the delegation said. As long as the
Haitian parents remained in the Dominican Republic, the children,
even if born in that country, were Haitians. In addition to their
refusal to register the birth of a Haitian child in the Dominican
Republic, the Dominican authorities denied the acquisition of
Dominican citizenship to those who were born there. There was a
strong discriminatory attitude manifested by the Dominican
authorities in that regard. For a number years, negotiations had been
going on between the two Governments to resolve the problem but no
concrete steps had been taken by the Dominican authorities.

Children could be spanked in the family although corporal punishment
had been banned in the schools for the last 30 years, the delegation
said. If an act of punishment within the family amounted to an act of
violence, then special measures could be taken by the authorities and
the child could be placed in a foster family.

There were only a few cases of police ill-treatment of children, the
delegation said. There was no systematic brutality committed by the
police. Administrative and juridical measures could be taken against
police officers who abused their authority. In recent years some five
hundred policemen who had committed serious offences had been fired
from their posts.

Women were marginalized, and discrimination against them was
prevalent in the country, the delegation said. Since the second half
of the 1990s, the number of girls going to school had significantly
decreased. The situation needed to be changed.

Abortion was prohibited by law in Haiti but its practice was
tolerated by the authorities, the delegation said. Assistance was
provided to women who desired abortions.

The country's high rate of illiteracy had prompted the Government to
use radio to disseminate information on the provisions of the
Convention, the delegation said.

Haiti had not ratified the 1993 Hague Convention on inter-country
adoption, the delegation said. Adoption processes followed Haitian
domestic law.

Non-payment of alimony by a father could lead to his detention on the
simple claim of a mother, the delegation said. Although payment was
hard to ensure because poverty and unemployment were widespread, the
law could be enforced any time a case was brought before the
authorities.

Committee Experts went on to raise a series of questions under the
main subjects of basic health and welfare; education, leisure and
cultural activities; and special protection measures. They asked,
among other things, about the implementation of a health policy; the
practice of breastfeeding; sexual education for children; teenage
pregnancy; water supply; stereotypes in the educational system that
discriminated against girls; sexual aggression against girl students
in schools; prostitution and sex tourism; the high child mortality
rate; exclusion of disabled children from society; trafficking of
children to the Dominican Republic; street children; and the juvenile
justice system.

Responding, the delegation said among other things that the impact of
breastfeeding in Haiti was limited but attempts were being made to
encourage the practice.

There was no full account of taken children's views in cases of
divorce, the delegation said. Many efforts needed to be made in that
field both on the legislative and social levels.

Teenage pregnancy was a big problem in Haitian society, the
delegation said. There had been, however, some recent improvement and
schools were encouraging young women to continue their studies.

Poverty was the main reason for the widespread of commercial sexual
exploitation of children, making more women vulnerable, the
delegation said. Sex tourism was not as pronounced as in other
countries of the region because of the reduction in tourism due to
prevailing political conditions.

The country's national plan of action for children had not been
implemented because of a lack of resources and a blockage of funds by
donors, the delegation said.

It was regrettable that some parents, particularly in rural areas,
preferred to send boys to school rather than girls, the delegation
said. In urban areas, the number of girls going to school had
increased and their number would increase with the evolution of the
society's attitude towards women.

The private sector played an important role in the promotion of
education in the country, the delegation said. Public school was free
of charge while private schools were commercial. The Government had
been expanding school facilities throughout the country but it could
not cope with the growing number of students. Many schools coped with
a shift system, which reduced the number of study hours.

A representative of UNICEF told the Committee that Haitian children
under 10 years of age had been vaccinated against polio and measles
-- a success in a country whose infrastructure was not
well-established.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks

AWA N'DEYE OUEDRAOGO, the Committee Expert who served as country
rapporteur for the report of Haiti, thanked the members of the
delegation for their efforts to answer the Committee's questions in
the absence of experts from the capital. The economic, political and
financial problems of the country were so enormous that many of the
programmes envisaged for children were not yet implemented. It was
hoped that things would change after legislative elections which
could allow the country's Parliament to function.

Ms. Ouedraogo said among other things that it was necessary to
establish priorities in the face of the country's financial problem
-- the best use should be made of the few resources available to the
Government. The drafting of the country's child code should fully
reflect the provisions of the Convention; the situation of stateless
children of Haitian origin in the Dominican Republic should be
resolved; and the condition of domestic helpers -- "Restavek" --
should be improved through legal measures protecting their rights.

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