A new report by the Pan American Development Founda-tion (PADF) says nearly a quarter million children in Haiti have been forced into slavery as unpaid household servants, according to a report on www.cananews.net. The report also indicates that most of these children suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while toiling in extreme hardship.

The PADF is urging the Haitian government and international donors to focus their efforts on educating the poor and expanding social services such as shelters for girls, who make up an estimated two-thirds of the child servant population.

Researchers said the practice of young servants, known as 'restavek', is so common that almost half of 257 children interviewed in the shantytown of Cite Soleil were household slaves. The report found that most of the children are sent by parents, who cannot afford to care for them, to families just slightly better off.