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Haitian children turn to begging in DR after quake
By EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ and JONATHAN M. KATZ (AP) * 9 august, 2010
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic ? From the white-sand beaches at the edge
of all-inclusive resorts to the gritty streets of the capital, more Haitian
children are begging on the streets of the Dominican Republic ? a sign that
the economic gulf between the neighboring nations has grown wider since the
Jan. 12 earthquake.
Haitian children, some believed to be brought by traffickers, roam the fruit
stands and dangerous medians, collecting pesos from passers-by as they dart
through smoggy traffic. No one knows how many, but their presence has grown
by the dozens over the past six months, aid groups say.
"They are vulnerable to all kinds of dangers in the streets," said Maria
Elena Asaud, a UNICEF child-protection expert in the Dominican Republic.
Those dangers include being abused, forced into prostitution and exploited
by traffickers for their begging wages.
The Jan. 12 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced more
than 2 million more. Many of those who survived fled to the countryside or
tent encampments around the capital, but the nearby Dominican Republic has
always been a powerful economic lure.
While Haiti was ripped apart by political upheaval over the past three
decades, the Dominican Republic opened its shores to tourists and its
finances to Washington-based multilateral institutions.
Haitians for decades have sought opportunity working on the streets, sugar
plantations and tourist resorts of the Dominican Republic, risking
discrimination and sometimes violence.
An estimated 9,000 Haitians have migrated across the border since the
earthquake, increasing the Haitian-born population by 15 percent to an
estimated 600,000, said Sigfrido Pared, the country's immigration director.
On a busy median in the capital, three Haitian brothers ? Luigi, Wilchy and
Aldry ? smiled to passers-by and stuck out their hands asking for a few
pesos. They sometimes run into traffic to look for change from the open
windows of stopped cars, the drivers blaring Latin rhythms of bachata and
reggaeton.
The boys did not give their last name and were reluctant to tell strangers
about their lives.
Luigi, who gave his age as 7, said they came from Port-au-Prince after the
earthquake destroyed their home and killed their father. They crossed the
porous border with their mother as she found work selling avocados.
When AP journalists visited them over several days, they sometimes looked
clean and well cared-for, other times filthy from the tops of their heads to
their plastic sandals.
"I want to go back to Haiti, so I can go to school," Luigi said.
Those working in the north-coast beach areas can earn nearly $14 per day
among the tourists ? nearly three times Haiti's minimum wage.
Those areas were also cited as hotspots of child prostitution and sex
tourism in a 2010 U.S. State Department report on human trafficking. A local
group called the Coalition for Children found a third of the 53 child
beggars it interviewed this year in the country's center and north are taken
to the streets by alleged child traffickers.
"It's so terrible: The kids sleep on the streets, take showers on the
street, take drugs," said Maria Josefina Paulino, director of International
Self-Development Solidarity, which runs programs to keep children from
prostitution.
The children are likely bought or traded along the countries' lawless
border, where contraband and drugs flow easily over unguarded desert, said
Davide Sala, a migrants-rights advocate with the Jesuit Refugee and
Migration Service.
The Dominican National Childhood Council established a program after the
quake to remove children from the streets. So far, it has taken in 102
minors and returned half to their families in Haiti. The rest are in
shelters as authorities try to locate relatives, said manager Angel Luis
Alvarez.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic ? each with just under 10 million people ?
share Hispaniola, an island divided in colonial times by the Spanish and
French empires. Both imported African slaves and kept them under some of the
most brutal conditions in the hemisphere. An independent Haiti invaded the
Spanish-speaking side of the island in 1822 and occupied it for 22 years.
Dominican leaders have fostered anti-Haitian sentiment to consolidate their
control, contributing to decades of violence and discrimination against
Haitians. Even Dominican-born people of Haitian descent are barred from
gaining citizenship.
But the quake devastation prompted an unprecedented level of good will
toward their poorer neighbor: For a time, the Dominican Republic was the
staging ground for much of the aid pouring into Haiti. Dominican President
Leonel Fernandez made his first visit next door in half a decade.
Those warm feelings could diminish as Dominicans see Haitians they deem
"ungrateful" for their aid stream into their country, Sala said.
"There was a feeling that the help given to Haiti (after the earthquake) was
supposed to erase the past," he said.
The high visibility of the children on the street could exacerbate tensions
among those who feel relations have gotten too cozy over the past few
months, he added.
In Santo Domingo, children ? both Dominican and Haitian ? are also employed
as street vendors, shoe shiners, prostitutes and drug dealers.
In Santiago, some of the children clean windshields, shine shoes or work on
farms but most just beg, said Cynthia Lora, whose group, Street Action, is
trying to start a program that will allow some of them to attend school. The
kids who ask for money in the streets often get some, she said.
"For now, after the quake, people in Santiago are sensitive" to the plight
of victims, Lora said. "They aren't really conscious of the fact that these
kids are victims of trafficking or exploitation."
Ezequiel Abiu Lopez reported from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and
Jonathan M. Katz reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
ZQD9HFPPK80
Haitian children turn to begging in DR after quake
By EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ and JONATHAN M. KATZ (AP) * 9 august, 2010
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic ? From the white-sand beaches at the edge
of all-inclusive resorts to the gritty streets of the capital, more Haitian
children are begging on the streets of the Dominican Republic ? a sign that
the economic gulf between the neighboring nations has grown wider since the
Jan. 12 earthquake.
Haitian children, some believed to be brought by traffickers, roam the fruit
stands and dangerous medians, collecting pesos from passers-by as they dart
through smoggy traffic. No one knows how many, but their presence has grown
by the dozens over the past six months, aid groups say.
"They are vulnerable to all kinds of dangers in the streets," said Maria
Elena Asaud, a UNICEF child-protection expert in the Dominican Republic.
Those dangers include being abused, forced into prostitution and exploited
by traffickers for their begging wages.
The Jan. 12 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced more
than 2 million more. Many of those who survived fled to the countryside or
tent encampments around the capital, but the nearby Dominican Republic has
always been a powerful economic lure.
While Haiti was ripped apart by political upheaval over the past three
decades, the Dominican Republic opened its shores to tourists and its
finances to Washington-based multilateral institutions.
Haitians for decades have sought opportunity working on the streets, sugar
plantations and tourist resorts of the Dominican Republic, risking
discrimination and sometimes violence.
An estimated 9,000 Haitians have migrated across the border since the
earthquake, increasing the Haitian-born population by 15 percent to an
estimated 600,000, said Sigfrido Pared, the country's immigration director.
On a busy median in the capital, three Haitian brothers ? Luigi, Wilchy and
Aldry ? smiled to passers-by and stuck out their hands asking for a few
pesos. They sometimes run into traffic to look for change from the open
windows of stopped cars, the drivers blaring Latin rhythms of bachata and
reggaeton.
The boys did not give their last name and were reluctant to tell strangers
about their lives.
Luigi, who gave his age as 7, said they came from Port-au-Prince after the
earthquake destroyed their home and killed their father. They crossed the
porous border with their mother as she found work selling avocados.
When AP journalists visited them over several days, they sometimes looked
clean and well cared-for, other times filthy from the tops of their heads to
their plastic sandals.
"I want to go back to Haiti, so I can go to school," Luigi said.
Those working in the north-coast beach areas can earn nearly $14 per day
among the tourists ? nearly three times Haiti's minimum wage.
Those areas were also cited as hotspots of child prostitution and sex
tourism in a 2010 U.S. State Department report on human trafficking. A local
group called the Coalition for Children found a third of the 53 child
beggars it interviewed this year in the country's center and north are taken
to the streets by alleged child traffickers.
"It's so terrible: The kids sleep on the streets, take showers on the
street, take drugs," said Maria Josefina Paulino, director of International
Self-Development Solidarity, which runs programs to keep children from
prostitution.
The children are likely bought or traded along the countries' lawless
border, where contraband and drugs flow easily over unguarded desert, said
Davide Sala, a migrants-rights advocate with the Jesuit Refugee and
Migration Service.
The Dominican National Childhood Council established a program after the
quake to remove children from the streets. So far, it has taken in 102
minors and returned half to their families in Haiti. The rest are in
shelters as authorities try to locate relatives, said manager Angel Luis
Alvarez.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic ? each with just under 10 million people ?
share Hispaniola, an island divided in colonial times by the Spanish and
French empires. Both imported African slaves and kept them under some of the
most brutal conditions in the hemisphere. An independent Haiti invaded the
Spanish-speaking side of the island in 1822 and occupied it for 22 years.
Dominican leaders have fostered anti-Haitian sentiment to consolidate their
control, contributing to decades of violence and discrimination against
Haitians. Even Dominican-born people of Haitian descent are barred from
gaining citizenship.
But the quake devastation prompted an unprecedented level of good will
toward their poorer neighbor: For a time, the Dominican Republic was the
staging ground for much of the aid pouring into Haiti. Dominican President
Leonel Fernandez made his first visit next door in half a decade.
Those warm feelings could diminish as Dominicans see Haitians they deem
"ungrateful" for their aid stream into their country, Sala said.
"There was a feeling that the help given to Haiti (after the earthquake) was
supposed to erase the past," he said.
The high visibility of the children on the street could exacerbate tensions
among those who feel relations have gotten too cozy over the past few
months, he added.
In Santo Domingo, children ? both Dominican and Haitian ? are also employed
as street vendors, shoe shiners, prostitutes and drug dealers.
In Santiago, some of the children clean windshields, shine shoes or work on
farms but most just beg, said Cynthia Lora, whose group, Street Action, is
trying to start a program that will allow some of them to attend school. The
kids who ask for money in the streets often get some, she said.
"For now, after the quake, people in Santiago are sensitive" to the plight
of victims, Lora said. "They aren't really conscious of the fact that these
kids are victims of trafficking or exploitation."
Ezequiel Abiu Lopez reported from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and
Jonathan M. Katz reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.