|
Migrant domestic workers' vulnerability to exploitation and slavery
-- including human trafficking -- will be greatly increased under
UK Government's proposed changes to the migration system.
On 23 August, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave
Trade and its Abolition, Anti-Slavery International is calling
on the Government to think again and maintain migrant domestic workers'
rights to renewable visas and to change employers if they wish.
Proposed changes to the domestic worker visa include restricting
their stay to a maximum of six months and removing their right to
change employers, even if they are being subjected to abuse, leaving
all migrant domestic workers in the UK and new arrivals vulnerable
to exploitation and slavery.
"The trafficking and exploitation of migrant domestic workers
in the UK is already a significant problem. In 1998, the Government
took steps to protect these workers. The current proposals would
set us back 10 years and increase the number of migrant domestics
subjected to forced labour," Aidan McQuade Director of
Anti-Slavery International said.
According to research by Kalayaan, which supports migrant domestic workers in the UK, of 387 migrant domestic workers who reported
abuse in a year, 86 per cent of migrant domestic workers are made
to work more than 16 hours a day, 70 per cent reported psychological
abuse, 27 per cent were kept locked in and 32 per cent have their
passports held so they cannot escape.
|
