Haiti's Children Are at Risk for Slavery and Sexual Exploitation

The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that as many as one million of Haiti's children have lost at least one parent in the earthquake or have been separated from their relatives. The disaster has left them in great danger. In the terrible conditions they are now facing, these children are left on their own. They are not able to find food and water or protect themselves from assault, abuse and abduction.

Haiti was a young nation even before the earthquake, with children making up half the population. Now thousands of Haiti's children are wandering the streets, terribly injured, psychologically traumatized and abandoned. They are in great danger. They face a dismal future if they are not rescued soon.

Relief workers are setting up children-only sections in refugee camps, but thousands of children still wander the streets. These children need special attention and they need it now. So it is no wonder that well meaning folks seeing such trauma, want to scoop them up and bring them to the United States. Early on there was talk of an airlift for thousands of children, but the government has taken a more cautious approach.

The US Dept. of Homeland Security is letting many orphaned children into the country to receive medical care. Children who already have family in the US are allowed to stay. Children already in the process of adoption are being allowed to enter immediately.

Child advocates say this cautious policy is best for the Haitian children. A sudden relocation can further traumatize them. After the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, it took many months, even years for relatives and families to finally find their missing children. But many were reunited since they had remained in their country.

Meanwhile, orphaned or abandoned children are at terrible risk for being abused or sold as labor or sex slaves. In this type of emergency immediate protection is needed for the Haitian children. UNICEF has partnered with the Haitian government to help. Also the Red Cross and Save the Children organizations are working to identify and register unaccompanied children wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince. They are helping them to reunite with relatives if at all possible. Religious groups are setting up orphanages as quickly as they can, but it can't be soon enough.

Pastor Noah Ismonin was scouring the camps of Haitians left homeless by the quake. He was looking for orphans to bring back to an orphanage he runs about 150 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince. A man caught up with him and offered to sell him a young boy for $50.

Sources:

CNN News

St. Pete Times

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