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Navigating the Identity Constructions-Lived Realities Nexus of International Child Protection: The Global-Local Production of Childhood, Child Rights and Child Domestic Labour in Haiti by Dustin Ciufo A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Political Science and International Development Studies Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Dustin Ciufo, November, 2015 ABSTRACT NAVIGATING THE IDENTIFY CONSTRUCTIONS-LIVED REALITIES NEXUS OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION: THE GLOBAL-LOCAL PRODUCTION OF CHILDHOOD, CHILD RIGHTS AND CHILD DOMESTIC LABOUR IN HAITI Dustin Ciufo Advisor: University of Guelph, 2015 Professor Carol Dauda This dissertation explores how children navigate the relationship between their varied identities and livelihood experiences in what is termed the identity constructions-lived realities nexus. It does so within the field of international child protection where both Global and Local perspectives are responsible for producing the framing and experience of childhood, child rights and child domestic labour in Haiti. It is important to note that as childhood and child rights are socially-constructed concepts, they vary across time and space. However, the construction of these concepts does not transpire distinct from one another. Rather, a precise notion of these concepts emerges when examined at what is defined as the Global-Local interface. This is because an assessment of the international child protection literature reveals both a Global Childhood framework consisting of its Global Childhood model and Global Rights-Bearing Child approach and a Local Childhood framework made up of its Local Childhood model and its Local Rights-Bearing Child approach. Therefore, it is only through applying this scalar dynamic that the dissertation aims to traverse this scholarly divide and reveal what is in fact the dynamic interaction of these childhood frameworks responsible for the production and reproduction of Haitian childhood and child rights that shape Haitian child domestic labour. The results from this study show that such interactivity generates a spectrum of positive, negative and challenging experiences along which Haitian child domestic labourers’ identities are constructed and lived realities transpire. As a result, these children demonstrate both awareness of a need for more i rights but also an acknowledgement, appreciation and desire to obtain rights through fulfilling their interdependent obligations as agents for helping to gain improvement for their families and their own future. It is in this spectrum of identities and lived realities that practitioners may find strategies that are better targeted to more positive outcomes. Therefore, this dissertation shows both the theoretical necessity to analyze how the interaction of competing childhood frameworks shape Haitian child domestic labourers’ identity constructions and the practical importance of consulting these children as they navigate the diverse impacts that advocates of each framework have upon their unique lived realities. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a true honour to engage in the intellectual journey that is doctoral studies. In so doing, this experience has granted me the remarkable privilege to build both new and advance existing relationships with inspiring, dedicated and compassionate people. Below I wish to acknowledge my gratitude for their significant contributions to the shaping of this project and myself. First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to the Department of Political Science and the International Development Studies programme at the University of Guelph for the welcoming and engaging academic environment they have provided. It is here that I have had the remarkable privilege to study under the caring, committed and passionate direction of my academic advisor, Dr. Carol Dauda. I am sincerely grateful that you have afforded me with your unconditional support, insightful revisions and constant belief in the evolving vision of this project. Such qualities were reinforced and further complimented with my advisory committee members Dr. Adam Sneyd and Dr. Kate Parizeau. Thank you Dr. Sneyd for encouraging me to implement my critical analytical tools and Dr. Parizeau for assuring me that my social justice aims flow throughout the dissertation. Collectively, I have cherished the chance to exchange ideas with such a team-oriented committee. My experience at the University of Guelph has also offered me the opportunity to be surrounded by caring administrative staff, knowledgeable colleagues and engaged undergraduate students to each of whom I owe a significant debt of gratitude. I wish to extend special thanks to Debbie Bowie, Renée Tavascia, and Gerie McCauley for providing me with such kind-hearted administrative assistance, to Olabanji Akinola and Iftekhar Haque for sharing your academic reflections on my work and moral support in traversing the PhD journey, and to the students of UNIV 1200*15: Human Rights and the Child in Global Politics for your inspiring commitment to the study of child rights and utilizing such knowledge to mobilize advocacy for the rights of children across the world. My PhD field work research led me to travel to Haiti as a Teaching and Research Fellow based at the Institute of Social Work and Social Sciences in Haiti. It is here where I had the remarkable good fortune of working with dedicated and caring research colleagues Louicéus Ozias and Francillon Jean Enock. Thank you both for your field work support but more importantly for your friendship in sharing countless insightful conversations on tap-tap rides across the country. Thank you also to instructors Athena Kolbe, Marie Puccio, Almathe Jean and Anderson Soulouque for all of your assistance as well as to the students of PS 414: Principles of Human Security for the teaching and learning experience of exchanging theoretical and practical knowledge on Global-Haitian politics. Throughout this PhD journey, I have been blessed to have had the unconditional love of my family to rely upon. The words I share here are simply a small attempt at expressing the appreciation I hold for each one of you. First, I would like thank my paternal grandparents, Virginia and Umberto Ciufo as well as my maternal grandparents, Audrey and Fred Wickham, for instilling in our family a reverence for and valuing of education. Next, to my parents, Debbie and Sergio Ciufo, thank you for inspiring me to pursue my academic dreams, your unwavering support of me through the challenges and for taking so much pride in my success. Finally, to my siblings, Sonny, Danielle and Carly, thank you for the belief you have in me that I can and should do important things. My final yet most essential thanks are for the children and adult research participants in the Haitian child protection community. Your collective effort toward securing the realization of children’s rights is a truly noble endeavour. I am deeply honoured to have learned from you and I hope that this project may serve to continue the conversation on best practices for advancing child rights. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................................................. iv Chapter 1 – Introduction – Navigating the Identity Constructions-Lived Realities Nexus of International Child Protection in Haiti ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 The Historical Trajectory of the Universal Child Rights Regime ..................................................................................................... 3 Transmitting the Universal Child Rights Regime to the Haitian Context ......................................................................................... 5 The Interaction of the Global and Local Childhood Frameworks in Haiti ........................................................................................ 6 Outline of the Study ........................................................................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2 – Repression and Resistance in the Political Economy of Haiti and its Impact upon the Historical Origins and Contemporary Setting of Haitian Child Domestic Labour .................................................................................................... 12 The Political Economy of Haiti as Understood through the Theory of Habitus .............................................................................. 13 The Political Economy of Haiti and the Historical Origins of Child Domestic Labour .................................................................. 16 Haiti’s Revolutionary/Early Independence Era ..................................................................................................................... 17 Child Domestic Labour as a Communal Solidarity-Based Practice ...................................................................................... 25 Haitian-American Relations from Independence through to Occupation .............................................................................. 27 Haiti’s Dictatorship of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier .................................................................................................. 30 Child Domestic Labour as a Rural to Urban Patron-Client Practice ..................................................................................... 33 Haiti’s Democratic Transition ............................................................................................................................................... 36 Child Domestic Labour and the Norm Cascade of the Universal Child Rights Regime ....................................................... 40 The Political Economy of Haiti and the Contemporary Setting of Child Domestic Labour ........................................................... 44 Child Domestic Labour as Requiring Rural to Urban Migration within Poor Households ............................................................. 51 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3 – The Constructing and Experience of Implementing a Global-Local Methodological Research Design Toward Exploring Childhood, Child Rights and Child Domestic Labour in Haiti .............................................................................. 57 Methodological Approach to Conducting Research ....................................................................................................................... 57 The Ontological and Epistemological Approach to the Methodological Research Design ................................................... 58 Study Area ............................................................................................................................................................................ 60 Data Collection ..................................................................................................................................................................... 61 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................................ 66 Self-Reflexivity in the Research Process ........................................................................................................................................ 68 Positional Identity and Selected Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 69 Displacement and Betweenness Toward Positional Spaces in the Interview Process ........................................................... 71 Ethical Approach ................................................................................................................................................................... 74 Field Work Interviewing ................................................................................................................................................................. 77 Elite Interviewing .................................................................................................................................................................. 78 Expert Interviewing ............................................................................................................................................................... 81 Child Interviews .................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 4 – The Constructing of a Global-Local Theoretical Framework Toward Exploring Childhood and Child Rights in Haiti ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 92 The Influence of the Conventional and New Social Studies of Childhood in the Shaping of the Global and Local Childhood Frameworks .................................................................................................................................................................................... 92 The Conventional Social Studies of Childhood and New Social Studies of Childhood ........................................................ 93 The Global Childhood Model and Local Childhood Model ................................................................................................ 100 The Global Childhood Model and Local Childhood Model in Relation to Haitian Children .............................................. 107 The Influence of the Global and Local Childhood Models in the Shaping of Global and Local Rights-Bearing Child Approaches ..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 110 Theorizing the Global and Local Rights-Bearing Child Approaches .................................................................................. 111 The Global Rights-Bearing Child Approach and Local Rights-Bearing Child Approach ................................................... 116 The Global Rights-Bearing Child Approach and Local Rights-Bearing Child Approach in Relation to Haitian Children . 125 Critical Cosmopolitanism and Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy ....................................................... 128 The Global-Local Interaction of Childhood and Child Rights in Haiti ......................................................................................... 132 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 133 iv Chapter 5 – The Global and Local Childhood Framework’s Outlining of Child Domestic Labour Internationally and in Haiti ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 134 The Global and Local Childhood Framework as Applied to Child Domestic Labourers’ Labour Identities and Livelihoods ...... 134 Child Domestic Labourers’ Labour Experienced Internationally and in Haiti .................................................................... 136 The Global and Local Childhood Framework as Applied to Child Domestic Labourers’ Migrant Identities and Livelihoods .... 140 Child Domestic Labourers’ Migration as Experienced Internationally and in Haiti............................................................ 142 The Global and Local Childhood Framework as Applied to Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship Identities and Livelihoods 147 Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship as Experienced Internationally and in Haiti ......................................................... 149 The Global-Local Interaction of Childhood and Child Rights on Haitian Child Domestic Labourers’ Identity Constructions and Lived Realities .............................................................................................................................................................................. 153 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 154 Chapter 6 – The Global-Local Production of Childhood and Child Rights in Haiti ............................................................ 155 The Global-Local Production of Child-Rearing Practices ............................................................................................................ 156 The Global-Local Production of Children’s Right to a Protected Childhood ............................................................................... 162 The Global-Local Production of Child Transitions ....................................................................................................................... 167 The Global-Local Production of Children’s Right to Participation ............................................................................................... 173 The Global-Local Production of Children’s Lives ........................................................................................................................ 179 The Global-Local Production of Children’s Right to Securing Provisions for their Lives ........................................................... 185 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 192 Chapter 7 – The Global-Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Identities and Livelihoods in Haiti as Advanced by Adult Actors and Institutions ............................................................................................................................................... 195 The Global and Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Labour Identities and Livelihoods .......................................... 195 Child Domestic Labourers’ Defined as Restavek ................................................................................................................ 196 Child Domestic Labourers’ Conceptualized as Modern Day Slaves ................................................................................... 200 Child Domestic Labourers’ Livelihood Position ................................................................................................................. 205 The Global and Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Migrant Identities and Livelihoods ......................................... 211 The Push and Pull Factors of Child Domestic Labourers’ Migration .................................................................................. 211 The Framing of Child Domestic Labourers’ Migration ....................................................................................................... 217 The Reintegration and Resistance of Child Domestic Labourers’ Migration ...................................................................... 223 The Global and Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship Identities and Livelihoods ................................... 228 Child Protection Laws Governing Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship Rights ............................................................ 228 Child Protection Practices Informing Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship Rights ........................................................ 234 Political Processes Structuring Child Domestic Labourers’ Citizenship Rights .................................................................. 240 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 244 Chapter 8 – The Global-Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Identities and Livelihoods in Haiti as Advanced by Children .................................................................................................................................................................................. 246 Child Domestic Labourers’ Contribution to their Labour Identities and Livelihoods ................................................................... 246 Child Domestic Labourers’ Contribution to their Migrant Identities and Livelihoods ................................................................. 251 Child Domestic Labourers’ Contribution to their Citizenship Identities and Livelihoods ............................................................ 257 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 263 Chapter 9 – Conclusion - The Global-Local Production of Childhood, Child Rights and Child Domestic Labour in Haiti ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 265 The Historical Origins and Contemporary Setting of Child Domestic Labour in Haiti ................................................................ 269 The Global-Local Production of Childhood and Child Rights in Haiti ......................................................................................... 270 The Global-Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Identities and Livelihoods in Haiti as Advanced by Adult Actors and Institutions .................................................................................................................................................................................... 272 The Global-Local Production of Child Domestic Labourers’ Identities and Livelihoods in Haiti as Advanced by Children ....... 275 A Global-Local Analysis for a Dialogical Approach to International Child Protection ................................................................ 277 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................................ 280 Appendix A: The Global Childhood Framework and Local Childhood Framework .................................................................... 296 Appendix B: Maps Indicating Field Work Locations .................................................................................................................. 297 Appendix C: List of Interviews .................................................................................................................................................... 299 Appendix D: Interview Questions.………………………………………………………………………………………………..302 v Chapter 1 – Introduction – Navigating the Identity Constructions-Lived Realities Nexus of International Child Protection in Haiti Academic study into the relationship between identity constructions and lived realities is of vital importance for the field of international child protection. This is because conceptions of childhood and child rights vary across time and space. Such variance shapes individual and organizational viewpoints for the livelihoods that children realize. This can consist of a multitude of experiences including child domestic labour in Haiti that will be specifically addressed in this study. Therefore, in the contemporary hyper-globalized world where people are connected with one another unlike any previous period, our present reality sees these alternative conceptions as being readily known to one another. For instance, an examination into the international child protection literature shows the presence of a universal child rights regime that has emerged from 1 the minority world. Advocates representative of this universal regime are committed to a definitively homogeneous conception of childhood and child rights that is to be spread through multiple channels of globalization so that all of humanity may adapt this view. These advocates advance what is termed the Global Childhood framework. This Global framework c onsists of a Global Childhood model conceptualizing childhood as a universal experience and a Global Rights - Bearing Child approach that views children as independent rights - bearers. Since the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Chi ld (UNCRC) in 1989, these Global framework advocates have been further supported in their promotion of a uniform view of childhood and child rights toward upholding children’s protection worldwide. Therefore, 2 when applied to the practice of child domestic labour, Global framework advocates contend that children who conduct domestic labour are denied a proper childhood and are the victims of rights violations. Further supported by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention 1 Countries with a minority of the world’s population, poverty and land mass (Panelli, Punch & Robson, 2007, 13). 2 See Cynthia Price Cohen and Hedwin Naimark (1991) an d Alston (1994). Chapter 4 offers an in - depth discussion. 1 Number 182 in 1999 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, that includes domestic labour, these Global framework advocates argue that children need to be protected from such labour. Overall, with ratification of the UNCRC by 194 countries and ILO Convention 182 by 179 countries, the reach of this Global Childhood framework is clearly significant. Given this impressive international law consensus, one may infer agreement exists over conceptions of childhood and child rights. However, this would prove a problematic assumption as the majority of children’s childhoods and as such their child rights throughout many signatory states fail to align with the Global Childhood framework. This discrepancy between international law and many children’s livelihoods is a product 3 of the challenge posed by a Local Childhood framework situated within the majority world. 4 Proponents of the Local Childhood framework caution the universalizing zeal of Global Childhood framework advocates conte nding instead that heterogeneous conceptions of childhood and child rights should legitimately operate across the world. These proponents staunchly defend a Local Childhood framework that is made up of a Local Childhood model conceptualizing childhood as a variable experience and a Local Rights - Bearing Child approach that views children as interdependent rights - bearers. Therefore, when proponents of the Local Childhood framework examine the issue of child domestic labour, they contend that children’s childhoods may include the conducting of such labour as this could facilitate securing their child rights. Consequently, this leads to Local framework proponents’ position that children may participate in domestic labour. What materializes from the clear outlining of these alternative positions is that not only are there varying conceptions of childhood and child rights that emerge from differing individuals and institutions operating across the minority and majority worlds, but that 3 This term is used for countries with a majority of the world’s population, poverty and land mass (Panelli, Punch and Robson, 2007, 13). 4 S ee Tatek Abebe (2013) and Morten Skovdal and Eleni Andreo uli (2011). Chapter 4 offers an in - depth discussion. 2 they offer the distinct means by which to facilitate international child protection. Therefore, with the intention to provide a comprehensive overview for how actors and institutions promoting the 5 Global and Local Childhood frameworks impact international child protection in Haiti, t his dissertation asks how their conceptions of childhood and child rights, including child domestic labourers themselves, influence these Haitian children’s identities and impact their livelihoods. The Historical Trajectory of the Universal Child Rights Regime To address this research question, it is essential to first situate the historical trajectory of the universal child rights regime that shapes the Global Childhood framework. What becomes th evident in this process is that the 20 century witnessed a significant shift in the conception of childhood and its direct affect on child rights. For instance, in the aftermath of the First World War, international actors and institutions highlighted the plight that children had endured in an effort to avoid repeating such tragic experiences. The result saw Eglantyne Jebb spearhead the League of Nations’ Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924 advancing a five-point commitment through which adults must ensure children’s right to life, survival and development (League of Nations, 1924). About three and a half decades later, the now United Nations reconfirmed their pledge through advancing the rights of all children to protection by situating it within their “right to equality without distinction on account of race, religion or national origin” (United Nations, 1959). What is critical to note in both these international declarations is their conception of the child “as particularly defenceless, innocent, and ‘worthy’ of protection as representative of a future generation” (Holzschieter, 2011, 11). This line of thinking saw “the gradual prominence of a specifically Western, liberal concept of ‘happy childhood’ which comprised as its core components love, care, education, play, recreation, personal development, 5 See Appendix A: The Global Childhood Framework and Local Childhood Framework for a succinct guide on what constitutes these frameworks. While these respective frameworks will be outlined, analyzed and applied to the Haitian context over the course of the dissertation, it may be helpful to revisit the appendix from time to time. 3 furthering of talents and protection from work” (Holzscheiter, 2011, 11). This materialized in a situation where despite the notion of children’s rights being used in these international declarations, the conception of childhood as a protective space led to envisioning child rights not with the “aim at empowering the child … [but rather] the term [child rights] designated a moral obligation of society as a whole towards children as a whole” (Holzschieter, 2011, 12). The conception of childhood and its ensuing affect on child rights would, however, be revolutionized with the developing notion of children’s evolving capacities by the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s onward. This conception witnessed children no longer completely situated within their family realm, but simultaneously acknowledged as autonomous actors. Therefore, the child could be engaged on matters that affected their lives based upon their development stage (Holzschieter, 2011, 12). The growing awareness for the principle of children’s evolving capacities from the 1970s onward, dovetailed with the United Nations’ Decade of the Child in 1979 that spurred a ten-year long drafting period for what would ultimately become the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention maintained the principles of children’s right to life, survival and development as well as non-discrimination. However, it proceeded to situate these rights in light of children’s autonomous status through advancing both the best interest of the child principle and a respect for the views of the child on matters affecting their lives (United Nations, 1989). In essence, the latter enshrines children’s right to voice their opinions on issues that they engage, while the former mandates that adult actors include the child’s viewpoint in determining what is the ideal course of action for the child. As a result, the universal child rights regime has shaped a Global Childhood framework that promotes “children as a special class of people requiring special consideration and the dignity of the individual child should be recognized in his or her own unique situation” (Cohen and Naimark, 1991, 63). 4

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.