Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Most of Haiti’s trafficking cases consist of children in domestic servitude vulnerable to beatings, sexual assaults, and other abuses by individuals in the homes in which they are residing. A significant number of dismissed and runaway child domestic servants end up in prostitution or are forced into begging or street crime. Citizens of the Dominican Republic are exploited in sex trafficking and forced labor in Haiti. Other vulnerable populations include: low-income Haitians; children working in construction, agriculture, fisheries, and street vending; women and children living in camps for internally displaced persons set up as a result of the 2010 earthquake; female-headed or single-parent families; children in unscrupulous private and NGO-sponsored residential care centers; and Haitians without documentation, including those returning from the Dominican Republic or The Bahamas. Haitians are vulnerable to fraudulent labor recruitment abroad. Haitian children are exploited in prostitution, domestic servitude, agriculture, construction, and forced begging in the Dominican Republic. Haitian adults and children are exploited in forced labor primarily in the Dominican Republic, other Caribbean countries, South America, and the United States. Deficiencies and corruption in the judicial system impair efforts to prosecute criminals, including traffickers.
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