WASHINGTON (CMC):

An Independent United Nations human rights expert has warned that thousands of Haitian children are trapped in a "modern form of slavery".

A statement issued by the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday said that Gulnara Shahinian, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, expressed her concern over the highly exploitative nature of the 'restavek' system in Haiti, which she said is tantamount to slavery.

Restavek refers to a social system in Haiti where children whose parents are unable to provide for them send them to live with relatives or other persons in areas where they receive housing and food in exchange for housework.

Shahinian, who has just completed a two-week visit to the Caribbean country, said the system of unpaid child labour "deprives children of their family environment and violates their most basic rights, such as the rights to education, health, and food, as well as subjecting them to multiple forms of abuse, including economic exploitation, sexual violence and corporal punishment, violating their fundamental right to protection from all forms of violence".

Shahinian, who carries out her duties in an independent capacity, commended the authorities for their efforts to tackle the issue and protect the rights of restavek children.

However, she condemned what she said was a new development: professional recruiters "who, for financial gain, recruit children from rural areas to work in urban families as child slaves in domestic work and outside the home in markets".