Navigating the Identity Constructions-Lived Realities Nexus of International Child Protection

309 Pages·2015·2.11 MB·English

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.

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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.
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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

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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

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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