[child-rights] Children working as domestics face abuse

***Learn more about World Day Against Child Labour (12 June 2004):
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/day-against-childlabour.php


Governments Should Address the Dangers of Child Domestic Work

(Geneva, June 10, 2004) -- Governments should recognize child domestic
work as one of the worst forms of child labor, Human Rights Watch said
today in advance of the World Day Against Child Labor.

In a backgrounder issued today
[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/10/africa8789.htm], Human Rights
Watch described how child domestic workers in countries around the world
face routine exploitation and abuse, including sexual harassment and
violence. Human Rights Watch's investigations in West Africa, Central
America and Asia have found girls as young as eight working 15 or more
hours a day, seven days a week, for little or no pay.

"Child domestic workers around the world endure abuse as well as
exploitation," said Jo Becker, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch's
Children's Rights Division. "Instead of turning a blind eye to the dangers
of this kind of work, governments need to take steps to ban it."

The International Labor Organization estimates that more girls work in
domestic labor than in any other sector of work. The ILO announced that
child domestic labor would be the focus of this year's World Day Against
Child labor, commemorated on June 12.

Child domestics often work under constant threat of physical or sexual
abuse. In Guatemala, one-third of domestics interviewed by Human Rights
Watch reported that they had suffered sexual harassment or abuse by men in
their employer's household.  Girls in Togo described being struck with
blunt objects and electrical wire, or even being threatened with death.

Moreover, child domestics often have no opportunity to go to school, or
are forced to drop out because of the demands of their jobs. In Togo,
Human Rights Watch found that children are often trafficked by employers
or intermediaries who promise education that never materializes.
Indonesian girls who migrate to Malaysia to work as domestics are often
not allowed to leave the house where they are employed.

As well as depending on their employers for wages, child domestics often
rely on them for basic shelter. Child domestics who eventually flee abuse
may end up on the street.

In most countries, government labor codes exclude domestic labor from
basic labor rights. Domestics are frequently denied a minimum wage, days
off, or limits on the hours they work. They typically receive wages far
below those paid to other workers.  In Malaysia, Indonesian girls receive
the equivalent of 25 U.S. cents an hour, and in El Salvador, girls work
for as little as U.S.$26 a month.

The ILO's recommendations for what constitutes hazardous child labor under
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention include work that exposes
children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse, or involves
particularly difficult conditions, such as work for long hours or
unreasonable confinement on the premises of their employer. Under these
criteria, much of child domestic work is hazardous, and should be
prohibited.

Human Rights Watch called on governments and international agencies such
as the ILO and UNICEF to prioritize child domestics in programs to end
child labor, and to ensure that all children have access to free, quality
schooling.

Human Rights Watch Press release


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