Urban Child Labor in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

Abstract

[Excerpt] Port-au-Prince has a large population of child workers, many of whom work on the streets. However, little previous research has been conducted on the working and living conditions of these children. This study was commissioned by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) to contribute to the international discourse on exploitative child labor, raise awareness about child labor in urban areas in Haiti, and inform current and future technical assistance efforts of USDOL. The research objectives were to: Understand the root causes of urban child labor; Discover the types of work children perform and their working conditions; Map and understand the geographic characteristics of child labor in urban areas in Haiti; Capture information about the lives of children outside of work, including their living conditions, familial relationships, and educational status; Understand the perceptions of children and adults on urban child labor; Understand how the earthquake may have affected urban child labor in Haiti; and Discover what programs and policies exist to address the root causes of urban child labor. This qualitative study provided findings on these objectives using a total of 216 in-depth interviews with four types of respondents: formal experts, informal experts who witness child work, child workers, and family members of child workers.