Labour Exploitation Trafficking and Migrant Health

Accidents and injuries
When asked about workplace-related accidents, all participants reported having been involved in an
accident. The most common workplace accidents were cuts or punctures produced by the sewing
machine needle, the blade of the cutting machine, yarn-cutting scissors or the tagging gun. They
reported accidentally “sewing up” their hands, and being hurt by the needle, which could penetrate
the fingers and even bones. María, a 27-year-old migrant worker, spoke about how she hurt her
hand: “Sewing up my hand (laughs) with the straight-stitch (...) if you step hard the machine sprints
and your hand gets pulled together with the garment, and so your finger gets sewn up sometimes.”
Cooks and ironers reported that burns as a result of accidental contact with hot irons or pots were
common. One interviewee mentioned the possibility of falling due to carrying a large number of
garments too quickly, or as a result of tripping over machines when doing this. This happened to
Hugo, a 21-year-old migrant worker: “Sometimes when you’re picking up the clothes, you can slip (...)
when the fabrics arrive, and I’ve seen workshops that I visited where you have to go up the stairs (...)
also after you’re finished you have to carry them before they take them (...) maybe packs of 20 pants
(...) because I wanted to lift it up quickly and I kicked it, since I was wearing flip-flops, I kicked the
machine and tripped next to the machine and cut myself, I mean, those things happen.” The space
between machines was reported to be very limited without much room to move.
Violence and abuse, threats and reported related health outcomes
A few interviewees (both migrant workers and victims of trafficking) reported witnessing another
person being assaulted by owners or managers of their workplaces. José, an 18-year-old victim of
trafficking, mentioned being physically assaulted, kicked and hit by a drunk boss: “The owner, when
he was drunk, and I wasn’t, he attacked me with a bottle (...), he was drunk, he attacked me, well,
first he kicked me, and when I wanted to defend myself he grabbed a bottle.” A few migrant workers
reported witnessing fights between co-workers and the owner.
Both migrant workers and victims of trafficking reported that the owners threatened them with
reprisals from Argentine authorities (migration and police), implying that the informal Bolivian
migrants could be detained or deported, which is not the case under Argentine law. Raul, a 38-yearold
victim of trafficking, spoke of being threatened: “If I want right now I can dump you. Go and
complain if you want, but you are Bolivian (...) [the owner said] I have my residence, because my
children are studying here, I live here, but you do not, so I will get support, you won’t.” Such threats
were supported with false information regarding interviewees’ rights in the country as migrants. For
example, one interviewee mentioned being told that if the police saw them they could be detained
and deported to Bolivia, which is contrary to Argentine law. As noted previously, all interviewees had
migrated legally into Argentina, and their rights as irregular migrants were protected by law.
Traffickers, in particular, used these and other threats to maintain control over their victims by implying
that the environment outside the workplace was not safe, and by emphasizing the victims’ isolation.
Owners threatened to increase their debts or harm their children and families. These threats were
taken seriously, as traffickers usually knew where the victims’ families lived. Owners also threatened
to “kick them out” of the workshop without pay, which is what happened to the 18-year-old victim
of trafficking, José:
“Just once he said that he wouldn’t pay me if he didn’t feel like it, and he could throw me
out on the street with all my stuff, and wherever I went, no one knew me, he said that
once.”
Verbal abuse was also used to intimidate victims of trafficking and as a punishment for perceived
errors or disobedience. Most of the interviewees, both migrant workers and victims of trafficking,
mentioned symptoms of stress due to working hard and fast to finish whatever task they had to
perform. As migrant worker Dora, 46, put it:
Labour Exploitation, Trafficking and Migrant Health
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