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At least ten million children around the world are working as domestic
servants, many in hazardous conditions, a new ILO report says.
An estimated 90 per cent are girls. Although domestic work is widely
seen as a safe occupation for girls, in many cases it is extremely
hazardous. Because they are hidden from view, children are vulnerable
to such serious human rights abuses as being forced to work long
hours, handle harmful substances, being denied their right to education,
rest, play and contact with friends and family*. They are also at
risk of physical, mental and sexual abuse.
The report, Helping Hands or Shackled Lives? Understanding child
domestic labour and responses to it, from the International
Labour Organization's International Programme on the Elimination
of Child Labour, draws important attention to the link between children
in this sector and child prostitution. In Tanzania and other countries
a significant proportion of children in commercial sexual exploitation
are former child domestics and were forced to leave their employers'
homes as a result of sexual abuse.
Children as young as four years old are used to clean, wash, cook,
do the shopping, take care of the 'employer's' children, ready them
for school, which they are denied. They frequently are only given
leftovers to eat, sleep in spare space, e.g. the kitchen, and their
welfare is wholly disregarded.
Research from Anti-Slavery International shows child domestics
experience significantly more psychological problems than other
children - both working and non-working.
"This welcome report puts the issue of child domestic
labour firmly centre stage, and lays bare the widespread acceptance
of this practice. It is only by showing what really goes on behind
the closed doors of millions of homes around the world that we can
prompt the change in attitudes that is crucial to improving the
lives of these most exploited of children," Mary Cunneen
Director of Anti-Slavery International says.
Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest international human
rights charity, has been working on this issue for many years, drawing
governments' and society's attention to the vulnerability of these
children and the need to have their rights protected. But while
awareness has increased, it has largely not been matched by increased
action to improve the lives of child domestic workers.
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