A Global Alliance Against Forced Labour - International Labour ...

A GLOBAL ALLIANCE AGAINST FORCED LABOURimpossible to generalize as to the existence of formallinkages between the smugglers or traffickers and theenclave employers, rather than a situation in whichChinese employers simply take advantage of the vulnerabilityof their compatriots.235. The labour exploitation of Chinese migrantsis usually associated with clandestine recruitmentmethods. However, as ever greater numbers of Chinesecitizens seek work overseas, there are concerns thatthose who emigrate through legal channels can alsobe subject to coercive practices. For example, in recentyears this has become a matter of growing concernin Israel. The widespread importation of Chineseworkers began in the late 1990s, at a time of labourshortages in the then booming construction industry.Both Chinese and Israeli recruitment agencies wereinvolved, charging substantial fees of several thousandUS dollars per contracted worker. The Chineseworkers were then given work permits for a fi xed period,tied to specific employers. Several complaintshave been registered against these recruitment andemployment practices, such as compulsory retentionof part of wages, as well as identity documents. 117236. In such cases improved law enforcement,based on a clear legal framework, must always be partof the solution. But it is unrealistic to believe that anemphasis on law enforcement alone, targeting limitednumbers of employers who extract profit from labourexploitation, can eradicate problems that can be quitedeeply embedded in the social and economic fabricof these countries. A number of factors are temptingproducers to cut costs to the maximum, in particularby placing the burden on the workforce.Migrants and forced domestic work237. Domestic work, though rarely recognized asproductive, involves substantial numbers of mainly femalemigrant workers. The ILO has documented theoften abusive and unprotected working conditions ofdomestic workers in a range of destination countries, inparticular in Arab States, Asia and western Europe. 118A global analysis of domestic work by children, includingits most exploitative forms, was published bythe ILO in 2004. 119 Domestic workers are especiallyvulnerable to forced labour because of the unprotectednature of their work and the highly personalized relationshipbetween the worker and employer. Domesticwork takes place in the private household, which istypically excluded from labour market regulations.Although labour inspection is required in all employmentsituations, in practice the home is out of boundsfor labour inspectors. A study of national laws in 65countries conducted by the ILO revealed that only19 of them have enacted specific laws or regulationsdealing with domestic work. 120 These laws often affordlower protection to domestic workers than to othercategories of workers. So far, there have been very fewconvictions of abusive employers or intermediaries involvedin the trafficking of domestic workers.238. Migrant domestic workers are in a particularlyprecarious position because of their insecure legal statusin the host country. In some Middle Eastern countries,migrant domestic workers have received severepunishments, such as stoning and caning, and havebeen imprisoned and convicted of crimes followingsummary proceedings. Many, including migrantworkers from Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia,have died in unclear circumstances. Migrant domesticworkers are restricted in their movements and isolated.In Hong Kong, China, and Singapore, several cases ofsevere ill-treatment of migrant domestic workers byemployers have been reported and prosecuted since2000, including at least one case of homicide.239. Domestic service is also used as a cover to lurewomen into employment abroad while deceiving themabout the real nature of their work. ILO research hasdocumented numerous cases of women who left theircountry on the assumption that they would be employedas domestic workers and were then forced intosexual exploitation. In other cases, domestic workersare trafficked under the cover of servile marriages orau pair schemes that were set up originally for culturalexchange. In the case of a 21-year old au pairgirl from Romania, who committed suicide in 2003in Germany as a result of serious maltreatment, theemployer was sentenced to prison. The young womanwas hired through a Romanian-based Internet agencyfor recruiting au pairs. 121240. For many women, domestic work is often theonly way to find employment abroad and to escapepoverty in their home country. Women from theRepublic of Moldova, for example, have migrated inlarge numbers to Turkey to work as domestic or careworkers. While many thus contribute to the incomeof their families, some fall prey to unscrupulous117. As in other countries, there is a corner where casual labourers wait to be hired, known as the “slave market”, at the intersection of Jabotinskyand Aaronowitz streets in Tel Aviv.118. S. Esim; M. Smith (eds.): Gender and migration in Arab States: The case of domestic workers (Beirut, ILO Regional Office for Arab States,June 2004); S. al-Najjar: Women migrant domestic workers in Bahrain, International Migration Papers No. 47 (Geneva, ILO, 2002);R. Jureidini: Women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, International Migration Papers No. 48 (Geneva, ILO, 2002); ILO: Domesticwork in Asia: Vulnerability to forced labour and traffi cking, DECLARATION Worker Paper (forthcoming); N.J. Sayres: An analysis of thesituation of Filipino domestic workers (Manila, ILO Subregional Office, unpublished document, June 2004). See also A. Blackett: Makingdomestic work visible: The case for specifi c regulation (Geneva, ILO, 1998).119. ILO: Helping hands or shackled lives: Understanding child domestic labour and responses to it (Geneva, 2004).120. J.-M. Ramirez-Machado: Domestic work, conditions of work and employment: A legal perspective, Conditions of Work and Employment SeriesNo. 7 (Geneva, ILO, 2003).121. Cyrus, op. cit.50