The Listin Diario writes on the increasing number of Haitian children that are finding work in the DR. He said that many come without either of their parents to get jobs as farm hands. While the situation in the DR is tough, they are escaping worse misery in Haiti, says the report. The Listin Diario says they are known as "restavec." Some say their parents sent them, others say they were brought in by other Haitian adults. The Listin Diario says that the children do not know how to read or write, have not received any kind of vaccinations, suffer from malnutrition and are paid wages of 25 to 50 per work day. It comments they represent a generation with an uncertain future in the DR. The children come with no documents and thus legally do not exist. They are unlikely to go to school. The story relates that for most to migrate to the DR is a better alternative than their much worse plight of becoming one of thousands of Haitian children who are given away by their parents to persons of means in Haiti, who enslave and mistreat them, oblige the children to perform harsh tasks for no pay, and never send them school. Sonia Pierre, president of the Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitianas said that ways have to be found to return the children to Haiti in an adequate matter and oblige their parents to assume their responsibility.
