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.

The situation of Sylvia (not her real name) clearly illustrates this. A young teenager, she was made to sleep on the floor, was only given leftovers to eat and was not being paid. She finally fled the house where she was working as a domestic after being severely beaten by a member of the household when she refused his sexual advances.

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.

Although there is growing awareness of this problem among governments and society, this has largely not been matched by increased action to improve the lives of child domestic workers.