Dr. Arthur Fournier
The Huffington Post

July 17th, 2008 - Mr. Dan Harris, of ABC News, is to be commended for calling attention to the problem of child slavery. This problem of modern slavery is not, however, unique to Haiti, nor is it confined to children. It will be found anywhere there are vulnerable populations in contact with others of more means willing to exploit them. Sexual slavery has been well documented in Central America, Mexico, Thailand and the Dominican Republic, and conditions perilously close to slavery exist for many undocumented immigrants and migrant laborers in even developed countries such as the U.S. Given how little most Americans understand about Haiti and how this lack of understanding during the early years of AIDS led to stigmatization of Haitians that persists to this day, this is no small point - exploitation of vulnerable people has nothing to do with ethnicity or culture and everything to do with poverty and the survival choices poor people are forced to make.

Read more: In Response to the ABC Nightline Special on Sex Trade in Haiti