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Millions of children as young as five years old are forced to work
as domestics violating their right to education, rest and play.
From 4 to 6 April, Anti-Slavery International is holding a conference
in London on child domestic work. Child rights activists from Africa,
Latin America, South and South East Asia are attending to develop
methods for fighting one of the worst forms of child labour.
Domestic work is probably the largest source of employment for
girls worldwide. Tasks include cleaning, cooking, washing, ironing,
looking after children, fetching and delivering. Although hard and
tiring, it is not the tasks themselves that can make child domestic
work slavery, but the conditions in which some work.
Typically they are the first to get up in the morning and the last
to go to bed at night. Because this type of work is conducted behind
closed doors, the child is vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
Despite working long hours some receive no pay and are only given
food and shelter in return for their work, often this means only
eating leftovers and sleeping on the kitchen floor.
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