A Child Rights-Based Approach to Reconstruction in Haiti

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti created a major humanitarian crisis for all of Haiti’s population, not least for its children. The devastation resulting from any large scale natural disaster raises numerous children’s rights issues. Immediately following the Haiti earthquake, however, public attention focused largely, and selectively, on only certain issues confronting children, most notably the threat of trafficking. Anti-trafficking initiatives are essential, but isolating trafficking as an issue can lead to overlooking the structural issues that heighten children’s vulnerability to being trafficked as well as other equally pressing children’s rights violations. This symposium essay proposes a more holistic rights-based approach to the post-earthquake reconstruction effort in Haiti. The essay delineates the range of rights violations children have suffered, explores the interrelationship among these rights, and outlines measures needed to foster the realization of all children’s rights and well-being