WUNRN
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - HAITIAN WOMEN
& CHILDREN IN SUGAR
INDUSTRY
"SLAVERY"- FILM: THE SUGAR BABIES
"The
Sugar Babies" examines the moral price of sugar --present and past -- from
the perspective of the conditions surrounding the children of sugar cane
cutters of Haitian ancestry in the Dominican Republic, and the continuing
denial of their basic human rights.
While exposing those who profit from human trafficking and exploitation, the feature length documentary film "The Sugar Babies: The Plight of the Children of Agricultural Workers in the Sugar Industry of the Dominican Republic" vividly explores the lives of those who live in circumstances that can only be considered modern day slavery. Composed of gripping field testimonies and hidden camera footage obtained during 18 months of documentation, the film also features interviews with Haiti's Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Raymond Joseph, the (former) U.S. Department of State Ambassador John Miller from the Office of Human Trafficking, renowned anthropologist and sugar historian Sidney Mintz, Carol Pier from Human Rights Watch, Public Interest Attorneys Bill Quigley as well as Greg Schell, and a number of activists from the field including human rights lawyer Noemi Mendez, Colette Lespinase of G.A.R.R. Haiti [Organization for Refugees and the Repatriated] and missionaries Pierre Ruquoy and Father Christopher Hartley.
Efforts
to Cancel The Sugar Babies
http://www.humanrightsfoundation.org/media/111209.html
MIAMI (November 12, 2009) –
Tonight’s screening of The Sugar Babies at the University of Miami will
proceed as scheduled despite enormous pressure from a member of the
university’s Board of Trustees. One of the board's senior trustees is Alfonso
Fanjul, who is also the Chairman and CEO of Flo-Sun, Inc., a sugar company
featured in the film for its inhumane labor practices, which include employing
children to work sugar cane fields in conditions that can best be described as
modern-day slavery.
The award-winning, feature-length documentary The Sugar Babies is
scheduled to be screened tonight at 7 p.m. as part of the Latin American Film
Series organized by the University of Miami Center for Latin American Studies.
It will be followed by a question and answer session with filmmaker Amy
Serrano. Tomorrow, November 13, Serrano will also lead a round table discussion
about the film and the current situation of Haitian laborers in the Dominican
Republic.
Dominican diplomats also pressured the university to remove the film from the
festival. Edgar Aponte, Dominican Minister Counselor, will be attending the
event. Aponte works under Carlos Morales Troncoso, the Dominican Minister of
Foreign Affairs, who happens to be the former president and CEO and current
shareholder at the Fanjul-owned Central Romana Corporation in the Dominican
Republic.
“It is likely that the Fanjuls and their corporate cronies will respond by
filling tonight’s screening with paid ‘sympathizers’ to harass Amy Serrano and
try to undermine the power of the film’s message,” said Thor Halvorssen,
president of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and producer of the film. “But
what the Fanjuls have to realize is that here in the United States, they have
to play by the rules they are not subject to in the Dominican Republic, where
crony capitalism and corruption is the way they operate their business. It is
shameful that US taxpayers continue to subsidize the Fanjul and Vicini families’
slavery,” he continued.
This is not the first time sugar interests have tried to prevent the
dissemination of the film. In 2008, The Sugar Babies was mysteriously
pulled from the Miami International Film Festival, and in 2007, Manuel
Almanzar, the Dominican Consul General in Miami, was asked to leave a screening
of the film at Florida International University after rushing the stage. At a
screening of the film in Paris, Serrano was threatened by an audience member
who told her people were going to “get” her. The film was also the target of a
bribery involving Dominican diplomats in Miami. These and other intimidation
tactics eventually forced Serrano to relocate from her home in Florida to
Louisiana.
The Fanjuls and Vicinis, who own the largest sugar companies in the island,
have much to lose from the film’s increasing popularity. In September 2009, the
U.S. Department of Labor included sugarcane from the Dominican Republic on its list of products
believed to be made from forced child labor. The announcement came after numerous screenings of The
Sugar Babies before members of Congress and representatives from the
departments of Labor, State, and Justice as well as the Office for Human
Trafficking.
The film has received much critical acclaim and, in 2008, a segment of the
Spanish-language show “Maria Elvira Live” featuring The Sugar Babies won
an Emmy award. The show included a discussion of the documentary and its impact
with Serrano, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human
Rights Commission Armando Valladares, who accompanied the filmmaker on her
trips to the Dominican Republic, and HRF’s Thor Halvorssen.
The Sugar Babies: The Plight of the Children of Agricultural Workers in the
Sugar Industry of the Dominican Republic explores the human costs of sugar
production on the Caribbean island. With gripping field testimonies and hidden
camera footage obtained during 18 months of documentation, the film also features
interviews with Ambassador of Haiti to the United States Raymond Joseph,
then-U.S. Department of State Ambassador John Miller from the Office of Human
Trafficking, and a number of other experts and activists.
The 99-minute documentary is in Spanish, Creole, French and English. The
Sugar Babies was produced through Siren Studios in association with the
Hope, Courage, and Justice Project and the Human Rights Foundation.
HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human
rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of
self-determination and freedom from tyranny.
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