Slavery in Haiti

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Slavery in Haiti began at an unknown time with slavery being practiced by the native populations when Europeans first arrived on the island in 1492 . Europeans engaged in forced labor of the native population until that community was decimated by disease. To replace the diminished native labor, enslaved Africans began being imported in earnest during the 16th century. By the early 17th century the Saint-Domingue (modern day Haiti) was a slave society with the majority of the population enslaved.^[1]

In response to the conditions of slavery, the ideals of the French Revolution, and the disproportion amount of enslaved to free people, Haiti was the site of a slave revolt that became the Haitian Revolution. Slavery was abolished during the revolution but afterwards forced labor was brought back by some leaders, believing a plantation-style economy was the only way for Haiti to succeed.

Unpaid labor is still widely practiced in Haiti. As many as half a million children are unpaid domestic servants called restavek, who routinely suffer physical and sexual abuse. Additionally, human trafficking, including child trafficking, and sex trafficking are significant problems in Haiti, in particular impacting people migrating to the Dominican Republic. Many of these issues have been exasperated by natural disasters and instability.

Haiti has the second-highest incidence of slavery in the world, behind only Mauritania and the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has placed the country in the "Tier 2 Watchlist" since 2017.^[2]