Human trafficking for sex, labour and domestic servitude: how do key trafficking types compare and what are their predictors? (2019)
Combatting trafficking in human beings is a well-established social policy and crime prevention priority for the twenty-first Century. Human trafficking, as defined in international law, can occur for diverse exploitative purposes. Yet, different forms of trafficking are routinely conflated in research, policy and interventions. Most of the attention to date has been on sex trafficking of women and girls, leaving male victims and other trafficking types comparatively overlooked. In this study, we disentangle differences between key trafficking types using rare individual-level data from the United Kingdom’s central system for identifying trafficking victims. For a sample of 2630 confirmed victims, we compare those trafficked for sex, domestic servitude and other labour across variables relating to victim demographics, the trafficking process and official responses. Having established significant and substantial differences at bivariate level, we use multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of trafficking type. Overall, our results underline the complexity and diversity of human trafficking and warn against conflating different types. Within a holistic counter-trafficking framework, a more disaggregated and nuanced approach to analysis and intervention is vital in ensuring more finely-targeted responses. This original study has clear lessons for research, policy and practice.
Citation: Cockbain, E. and K. Bowers (2019) ‘Human trafficking for sex, labour and domestic servitude: how do key trafficking types compare and what are their predictors?’, Crime, Law and Social Change, 72, pp. 9-34.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: FORCED LABOUR IN THE DOMESTIC WORK SECTOR IN SINGAPORE (2019)
This report examines the issue of forced labour (FL) among Singapore’s migrant domestic worker. Engaged in essential care and household work, live-in domestic workers are recognized as particularly vulnerable to labour and human rights violations. As a community, domestic workers are highly susceptible to forced labour due to the isolated nature of their work and workplaces (private homes), the lack of legal protections in Singapore, as well as the difficulties of—and reluctance associated with—regulating domestic work, even when policies aimed at so doing already exist. The key tenets of forced labour are deception, coercion and exploitation. These mark and shape the daily lives of MDWs in Singapore in several ways. In detailing particular case studies, this report offers insights into the conditions and contexts that enable and lead to forced labour situations. While individual actors facilitate systems of forced labour, it is often the collective impact of multiple actors—including a lack of action and intervention—that maintain and sustain such systems. The case studies also highlight the risk factors that need to be strictly managed in order to deal with forced labour.
Citation: HOME and Liberty Shared (2019) Behind Closed Doors: Forced Labour in the Domestic Work Sector in Singapore. Singapore: Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics and Hong Kong: Liberty Shared.
Human Trafficking at Home: Labor Trafficking of Domestic Workers (2019)
This report attempts to put legal and societal recommendations forward by compiling and sharing qualitative and quantitative information about the realities of life for domestic workers. The report presents day-to-day working conditions of a wide range of workers cross the industry as well as drilling down on the details of reported cases of human trafficking of domestic workers. Data comes from Polaris’s operation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline, from an extensive survey of domestic workers conducted by the NDWA and through third party research. With this information, and by working with partners, domestic workers and survivors of human trafficking, stakeholders seeking to end the labor trafficking of domestic workers can begin to craft and implement data-driven solutions.
Citation: Polaris (2019) Human Trafficking at Home: Labor Trafficking of Domestic Workers. United StateS: Polaris and National Domestic Worker’s Alliance.
Out of sight: migrant women exploited in domestic work (2018)
Domestic workers contribute much to the EU’s societies and their economies. Their important work complements public social protection systems in EU Member States where such systems are not well developed, or their scope was reduced during the economic crisis. Their work in private homes also enables more women to participate in upper segments of the labour market. This paper addresses matters related to human dignity (Article 1), the prohibition of slavery, forced labour and trafficking in human beings (Article 5), respect for private and family life (Article 7), fair and just working conditions (Article 31) and the right to an effective remedy (Article 47), falling under Chapters ‘Freedoms’, ‘Solidarity’ and ‘Justice’ of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Citation: FRA (2018) Out of sight: migrant women exploited in domestic work. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN DOMESTIC WORK IN THE EU: A SPECIAL CASE OR A LEARNING GROUND FOR THE ANTI-TRAFFICKING FIELD? (2017)
The field of study on trafficking in human beings (THB) has developed greatly since the adoption of the Palermo Protocol 15 years ago. It has gone through important shifts, one of which being greater attention toward forms of trafficking other than sexual exploitation, notably for forced labor and services. Yet, the expansion of the anti-trafficking field also faces new challenges and gaps in knowledge. One of the emerging areas that has gained interest and that needs further research is that of THB in domestic work. This Special Issue precisely examines this phenomenon in six European countries: Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. Contributions to this issue examine cases of severe exploitation in domestic work, analyze the conditions that are prone to exploitation, and explore why such situations of trafficking are not identified and prevented. It is timely to look at trafficking in the context of care and domestic work, not only because this area has been largely understudied, but also because in this context the private realm of interpersonal relations—a domain that has remained largely unexplored in the trafficking field of studies—are of fundamental importance. Domestic work is a perfect example of how gaps in policies (labor, immigration, welfare), social values and norms, and the relational dimension interplay in situations of trafficking. This is the point of departure, the premise, of this Special Issue. Given the peculiar nature of domestic work—being performed in private households and being at the junction of labor market and family—looking at trafficking in this context can contribute to advancing further the understanding of THB. Domestic work presents multifaceted challenges that speak to and inform a better understanding of the various areas and forms of trafficking.
Citation: Ricard-Guay, A. and T. Maroukis (2017) ‘Human Trafficking in Domestic Work in the EU: A Special Case or a Learning Ground for the Anti-Trafficking Field?’, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2.
TRAFFICKING IN THE DOMESTIC-WORK SECTOR IN THE NETHERLANDS: A HIDDEN PHENOMENON (2015)
This article seeks to contribute to the anti-trafficking debate by exposing shortcomings in the policy framework applicable to the domestic-work sector in the Netherlands, a sector wherein workers are at risk of trafficking. The findings are the result of qualitative research (desktop research, case analysis, and in-depth interviews), conducted in 2015. Based on the analysis, it will be shown that the current policy framework fosters rather than alleviates the vulnerability of domestic workers for THB (trafficking of human beings), and therewith, the author calls upon the Dutch government to remedy these policies as part of their responsibility to prevent THB.
Citation: De Volder, E. (2017) ‘Trafficking in the Domestic-Work Sector in the Netherlands: A Hidden Phenomenon’, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 15(2), pp. 140-154.
WORKER, HELPER, AUNTIE, MAID? : WORKING CONDITIONS AND ATTITUDES EXPERIENCED BY MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS IN THAILAND AND MALAYSIA (2016)
To obtain more knowledge on the link between attitudes – of both employers and the public – and the working conditions experienced by migrant domestic workers, the ILO and UN Women partnered with the University of Oxford Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) to carry out innovative research in Thailand and Malaysia. The study provides important insights on domestic workers’ perceived role as both family members and workers, and how this affects everything from working hours to wages, freedom of movement and association, and access to social protection. The report concludes with recommendations for policy makers, employers, civil society and the media on how they can contribute to improving the situation of migrant domestic workers in Thailand and Malaysia.
Citation: Anderson, B. (2016) Worker, helper, auntie, maid?: Working conditions and attitudes experienced by migrant domestic workers in Thailand and Malaysia. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Organization (ILO).
TRAFFICKING IN DOMESTIC WORK: LOOKING AT THE DEMAND-SIDE (2016)
The aim of this working paper is to provide a research framework for the study of trafficking in human beings in domestic work, with particular attention to the demand-side. This paper seeks to provide a common ground and understanding of the definition of THB in domestic work, and a better understanding about how to address demand in this specific sector. Domestic work (DW) as a labour sector is particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abusive employment practices, as well as one of the most invisible forms of THB. Yet, the phenomenon of THB in DW is poorly defined. Different terms are used interchangeably: THB for labour exploitation or forced labour in DW, THB for domestic servitude or domestic slavery. With regard to demand, it is challenging to differentiate between the multiple factors driving the demand for employment of domestic workers from demand for exploitable workers. Some specificities of domestic work have to be considered when addressing demand: such as the fact that the employer may at time be the same person than the recipient of the care and service, as well as the intimate character of the employer and employee relationships. In addition, domestic work is, in most cases, a non-profit activity.
Citation: Ricard-Guay, A. (2016) ‘Trafficking in domestic work: Looking at the demand-side’ DemandAT Working Paper No. 5.
THE SITUATION OF WOMEN MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS IN BAHRAIN (2008)
Gender discrimination in public life and employment is generally visible. However, migrant workers working behind closed doors, especially female domestic workers, are often “invisible” and are therefore particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. They are not protected by labour laws and are effectively subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude. Many are faced with exorbitant recruitment and migration fees. In the workplace, problems include long (or undefined) working hours, low salaries and late payment of salaries and poor and repressive living conditions. They suffer restrictions on movement, including the withholding of passports and are particularly vulnerable to psychological, physical and sexual abuse. It is extremely difficult for such victims of abuse to seek legal redress. This report examines the situation of women migrant domestic workers in Bahrain including the lack of legal protection and the kafala system, violence against women migrant domestic workers, lack of access to justice and trafficking.
Citation: BCHR (2008) The Situation of Women Migrant Domestic Workers in Bahrain. Bahrain: Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.