Domestic Child Servants

 
Country Domestic Child Servitude
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children work on family farms as domestic servants. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Antigua and Barbuda -
Argentina

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* UNICEF estimated that 252,000 children under 15 years of age were working and of these one third were domestics in urban areas. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Armenia -
Australia -
Austria -
Azerbaijan -
Bahamas -
Bahrain -
Bangladesh

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 17% of domestic workers are boys. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing an e-mail to UNICEF ICDC, citing UNICEF Bangladesh, Prevailing opinions and attitudes to child domestic work in urban middle class families, 4 February 1999)

* There are an estimated 189,000 domestic servants. (ILO-IPEC, Child Labour Situation in Bangladesh, 1997)

* Of the total child workers 2.89% are engaged in domestic service. (ILO-IPEC, Rapid Assessment of Child Labour Situation in Bangladesh, 1996)

* About 72% of the child domestic workers were girls. (ILO-IPEC, Rapid Assessment of Child Labour Situation in Bangladesh, 1996)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* There are 300,000 child domestic servants in Dhaka Metropolitan City. (ILO-IPEC baseline survey report under US DOL Project, BSAF)

* Shoishab Bangladesh estimates there are between 250,000 and 300,000 bandhu maids, that is, resident child servants, in Dhaka. (Jeremy Seabrook, "The Little Maids Of Dhaka", Third World Network Features, 8 July 1999)

* In Dhaka, as many as 300,000 children work as domestics. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing an e-mail from UNICEF Bangladesh)

* In Bangladesh, research in Dhaka concluded that more than 20% of child domestics were between 5 and 10 years old. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* A 1998 survey identified only 16% of child domestics who received their wages in hands; 45% never saw their wages, which were given to their parents or guardians; and about 25% received no wage at all. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing an e-mail from UNICEF Bangladesh, 24 November 1998)

* Child domestic workers generally have to work for 15 hours a day, seven days a week. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing The Phenomenon of Child Domestic Work: Issues, Responses and Research, 19-23 November 1997)

* Children who work in domestic service may work in conditions that resemble servitude and prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* There are significant numbers of young girls who are abducted for the 'slave trade, to be employed as domestic servants in the Middle East and Pakistan. (An Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, submission to the UN CRC, 1997)

Barbados -
Belarus -
Belgium -
Belize -
Benin

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Based on a survey of 229 children trafficked from Benin to Gabon, 198 (86%) were girls, the majority of whom were being trafficked for domestic service. More than 50% of the sample were under 16 years old. (Anti-Slavery International and ESAM, Trafficking of Children between Benin and Gabon, 1999)

* In the research sample of child domestic workers by the UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office, 72.4% were between ages of 10-14, 19.2% below age 10 and only 8.4% above 14 . (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

* In Benin there are estimated to be 150,000 child domestic workers aged between 4 and 14, with the majority starting work at around the age of 10. (Anti-Slavery International and ESAM, Étude sur la situation des 'enfants places' au Bénin, April 1998)

* Vidomégon, children placed with another member of the family or an outsider to help with household and/or trading activities, are the most common and exploited category of child workers in urban areas. 85% of them are children, 20% are under 10 years. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* In Cotonou, there would appear to have been an increase in the number of child domestic workers: 100 were identified in 1991; 950 in 1993. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing ILO, Improving the situation of child domestic workers, 1997)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children work as domestics in urban areas. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* It is clear that a changing social structure coupled with rapid commercialisation have helped fuel the demand for child domestic workers. (Anti-Slavery International and ESAM, Étude sur la situation des 'enfants places' au Bénin, April 1998)

Bhutan -
Bolivia

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* The old practice of "criadito" service still persists in some parts of the country. Criaditos are indigenous children of both sexes, usually 10 to 12 years old, whom their parents indenture to middle and upper-class families to perform household work in exchange for education, clothing, room, and board. There are no controls over the benefits to, or treatment of, such children, who may become virtual slaves for the years of their indenture. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Bosnia and Herzegovina -
Botswana -
Brazil

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* According to the Government's Institute for Applied Economic Research, in 1998 there were approximately 800,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 17 working as domestic servants. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001, March 2002)

* 20% of girls between the age of 10 and 14 work as domestics and the percentages rise to 35.6% in rural areas. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)

* There are an estimated 260,000 domestic workers between 10 and 14 years of age. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)

* There are an estimated 1 million child domestics. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labour, 1998)

* 22% of the working children are in domestic service. (ILO, Targeting the Intolerable, November 1996)

Brunei Darussalam -
Bulgaria -
Burkina Faso

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* It is reported that in most of the regions of West Africa, children as young as 8 years are taken from the rural areas to towns and cities to work as domestics. Many of them work for over 12 hours a day and are subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse. (ECPAT, CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)

* Many children are trafficked for domestic work. (Anti-Slavery International, presentation to the Libreville Consultation, February 2000)

* A study has shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Burkina Faso for use as domestic servants. (WAO-Afrique, Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)

* Suspected child trafficking activities have been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. These networks feed the domestic labour market in the main urban centres of countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

Burma (Myanmar)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Burma is a country of origin for trafficking of persons, primarily of women and girls, to Thailand and other countries as factory workers and household servants, and for sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)

Burundi -
Cambodia

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children are employed as domestic servants. (ILO-IPEC, Child Labour in Cambodia, 1998)

Cameroon

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children are trafficked from and through Cameroon to other West African countries for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labour, and sexual exploitation. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)

* Trafficking in children, which is always a problem, continues to be the subject of considerable media coverage in Benin. Most victims are abducted or leave home with traffickers who promise educational opportunities or other incentives. They are taken to places in foreign countries (according to the press, principally to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, and Gabon) and sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* There are credible reports that children from needy homes especially girls are placed with other families to perform family chores for money. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

 

Canada -
Cape Verde -
Central African Republic -
Chad -
Chile

LOCAL STATISTICS

* In Santiago, 5% of domestic workers are under 11, and 29% between 11 and 15. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)

China

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 3,000 Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked to China for domestic work and to Cambodia for prostitution. (ILO-IPEC, Trafficking in Children and Women, 1999)

China,
Hong Kong SAR

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Hong Kong is affected by various forms of trafficking for domestic service. (CWA, "Serving Affluent Businessmen and Visitors", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 13, Nos. 2 & 3, April - September 1997)

China,
Macau SAR
-
China,
Taiwan
-
Colombia

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* In Colombia, 20% of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 work as domestics and the percentage rises to 32% in rural areas. (ILO-IPEC, Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)

Comoros

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children, often as young as 7 years of age, typically work long hours as domestic servants in exchange for food and shelter. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Congo

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child trafficking activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

Congo, Dem. Rep. -
Cook Islands -
Costa Rica

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* In Costa Rica, it is estimated that 70,000 girls and young women work as domestics. 44% of those interviewed began work at or before the age of 14. More than half of the child domestics interviewed were migrants from neighbouring Nicaragua. (Anti-Slavery International and DNI-Costa Rica, 50 niñas y mujeres adolescentes trabajadoras domésticas en Costa Rica, May 1999)

* In 1992, 28% of youth between the ages of 12 and 19 were working as domestics. (ECPAT International, Child Prostitution and Sex Tourism, citing Agustin Castros, "Aumenta turismo sexual", Prense Libre, 8 June 1994)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Domestic service is a major form of female and child employment in Costa Rica. (ECPAT International, Child Prostitution and Sex Tourism, citing Agustin Castros, "Aumenta turismo sexual", Prense Libre, 8 June 1994)

Cote d'Ivoire

LOCAL STATISTICS

* More than half of a representative sample of 200 domestic workers surveyed in the capital, Abidjan were found to be under 18 years old. (BICE-Côte d'Ivoire and Anti-Slavery International, Les petits bonnes a Abidjan, 1997)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Some children are employed as domestics and are subjected to sexual abuse, harassment, and other forms of mistreatment by their employers, according to AIDF and press reports. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* A study has shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Cote d'Ivoire, for use as domestic servants. (WAO-Afrique, Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)

* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child trafficking activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

* The sale of children for labour is organised around networks, which bring children from rural areas to urban centres to work for individual employers in domestic service. (CWA, Rokhaya Diop, "The Sale of Child Labour in Côte d'Ivoire", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 4, October - December 1994)

Croatia -
Cuba -
Cyprus -
Czech Republic -
Denmark -
Djibouti -
Dominica -
Dominican Republic -
East Timor -
Ecuador

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 20% of girls between the ages of 10 and 14 work as domestics. The percentages rise as high as 43.8% in rural areas. (ILO-IPEC, Child Domestic Workers, 1998)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children are being trafficked from Ecuador to Venezuela. The children work in virtual slavery conditions as domestic workers. (CATW Fact Book, citing Vladimir Villegas, Congressional Human Rights Commission, Estrella Gutierrez, "Child Traffic in Venezuela Tip of the Iceberg", IPS, 11 January 1998)

Egypt

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children work as domestics. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

El Salvador -
Equatorial Guinea GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child trafficking activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

Eritrea -
Estonia -
Ethiopia

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Child domestic workers are common. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Fiji -
Finland -
France GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Some diplomats have domestic slaves. They are usually foreign nationals and diplomats from places where slavery already exists, such as the Gulf and North Africa, but also include native French. (American Anti-Slavery Group, Jesse Sage, e-mail to GMIS, 6 November 2000, citing Kevin Bales, Disposable People)

Gabon

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Based on a survey of 229 children trafficked from Benin to Gabon, 198 (86%) were girls, the majority of whom were being trafficked for domestic service. More than 50% of the sample were under 16 years old (Anti-Slavery International and ESAM, Trafficking of Children between Benin and Gabon, 1999)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Gabon is a destination country for trafficked persons, primarily children from west and central Africa (specifically Benin and Togo) for domestic servitude. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)

* UNICEF and other concerned organisations have reported that government officials often privately use foreign child labourers, mainly as domestic help. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* A study has shown that children are trafficked from Benin to Gabon to be used as domestic servants, and from Togo to Gabon for use as domestic servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes. (WAO-Afrique, Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)

* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child trafficking activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

Gambia

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Anecdotal evidence in Gambia suggests that the existence of sexually exploitative activities amongst young people within domestic and work situation is overwhelming. (ECPAT, CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)

* A report on the trafficking of children in West and Central Africa states that children are being trafficked to and from Senegal to neighbouring countries to work as domestics. (ECPAT, CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)

Georgia -
Germany -
Ghana

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* In Ghana, 80% of girls working as domestics were between 10 and 14 years. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* A recent survey shows that there are at least 39 active 'trokosi' shrines in the Volta and Dangme areas: 18 in the Tongu North (Adidome), eight in the Tongu South (Sogakope), five in Ketu, three in Keta, two in Dangme West and one in Akatsi district. In all, there are over 1,000 'Trokosis'. (Santuah Niagia, "Children forced to atone for the sins of parents", Dispatch Online, 16 March 2000)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children are trafficked to and from Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, and Nigeria for indentured or domestic servitude. (US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)

* NGO's report that children as young as age 7 work illegally as domestic servants. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

* Teenage girls from rural areas are sent by relatives to work in the cities as housemaids for little remuneration. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* In cross-border trafficking, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

* Under the Trokosi system, a traditional practice that is particularly prevalent in the Volta region, girls, usually under the age of ten, are enslaved to fetish priests in atonement for some offence committed by their families. They are subjected to forced labour and sexual abuse, often bearing the priests' children. Even after release, a woman's obligations to the shrine are life long and a replacement is expected when she dies. It is estimated that some 4,500 girls are caught up in that system
(ECPAT, CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)

Greece

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Findings of the NOW survey revealed the presence of child workers in different fields including domestic work. (EFCW, Children Who Work in Europe, June 1998)

Grenada -
Guatemala NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Roughly 100,000 girls between 10 and 14 years of age reportedly work as domestics. (IACHR, Country Report - Guatemala, 2001)

* An estimated 92,800 girls work as maids, most of them in Guatemala City. ("Two Million Children Work In Guatemala", EFE News Service, 16 September 2000, citing the report on childhood issued by the Guatemalan Archbishop's Human Rights Office)

Guinea GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Refugee children from conflicts in nearby Liberia and Sierra Leone can end up as domestic workers in Guinea. They are not trafficked but displaced because of internal conflicts. (Anti-Slavery International, presentation to the Libreville Consultation, February 2000)

Guinea-Bissau -
Guyana -
Haiti

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 'Restavek', the practice of sending children to serve as unpaid domestic labour for more affluent city dwellers, exists, in the country. UNICEF estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 children 85% of them girls, are victims of this practice. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* The figure of 300,000 restavek children is a guesswork figure, not the result of a survey. (Maggie Black, e-mail to GMIS, 27 April 2000)

* There are an estimated 10,000 child domestic servants. (ILO-IPEC, IPEC action against child labour, 1998-99)

* There appear to be at least 200,000 child servants living at the bottom of the socio-economic scale. (UN Secretary-General, The Situation of Democracy and Human Rights in Haiti, note to the UN General Assembly, 50th session, 12 October 1995)

* Of an estimated 250,000 child domestic workers or restaveks, 20% are 7 to 10 years old. (UNICEF Innocent Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights, Restavek: Child Labour in Haiti, 1993)

* Restavek is a prevalent feature of Haitian society. The 1984 Conference Report estimated that 109,000 Haitian children worked as restaveks, 65,000 girls and 44,000 boys. If 109,000 children is an accurate figure today, 5% of Haitian children between the age of 5 and 18 work as domestics. (Minnesota Lawyer International Human Rights Committee, Restavek: Child Domestic Labour In Haiti, August 1990, citing E.Clesca, La domesticite juvenile est elle une consequence du sous development ou le produit de la mentalite d 'un peuple)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* A survey carried out in 1993 by the Institut Psycho-Social de la Famille found that child servants live in very poor conditions. It has been shown that the physical, moral and emotional suffering of the children is ignored. (UN Secretary-General, The Situation of Democracy and Human Rights in Haiti, note to the UN General Assembly, 50th session, 12 October 1995)

Honduras

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 5.5% of child labourers are domestic servants. (ILO-IPEC, El trabajo infantil en America Latina - CD-ROM, August 1999)

Hungary -
Iceland -
India

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* A survey in India, noted that 17% of domestic workers were under 15 years old and also reported that girls aged 12 to 15 were the preferred choice of 90% of employing households. (UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 1997)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* Of the 11,280 children below the age of 14 years involved in domestic chores for a wage in 19 towns of Tamil Nadu, around 3,000 children were employed in the homes of government servants. (Ramya Kannan, "India: Study shows lack of follow-up action", The Hindu, 20 Septenber, 2000, citing The 'preliminary assessment' of the prevalence of domestic child labour, by Peace Trust, and 15 other NGOs)

* In Chennai, a study found that 25% of child domestic workers interviewed began working before they were nine and a further 65% began work between the ages of nine and 12 years old. More than 80% were girls. (Anti-Slavery International and Arunodhaya, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Out of Reach: A study of child domestic workers in Chennai, India", 1999)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* In December 1999, domestic media reported that child labourers were being sold in an organised ring at the annual Sonepur cattle fair in Bihar. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

Indonesia

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* In Indonesia, According to the statistics of Central Bureau of Statistics (1999), there are 1,341,712 domestic workers in Indonesia; 310,378 of the are between 10 and 18 years old, which is about 23 per cent. In Jakarta the estimated number of child domestic workers are 70,792. (ILO-IPEC, Trafficking of Children, The problem and responses worldwide, citing ILO-IPEC and the University of Indonesia, 2001)

* Although accurate figures are unavailable, estimates put the number of child domestic workers as up to 1.5 million. Observers agree that this number increased in 1998 as a result of the economic crisis. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* An ILO statistical survey estimated that 5 million children in Indonesia are in domestic service. (ILO-IPEC, Child Domestic Workers, 1998)

* It is estimated that 400,000 children under 15 are working as domestics in the greater Jakarta area, with further estimates suggesting that more than 50% of all domestic workers in the Jakarta metropolitan region are under 18. Extrapolations from these estimates suggest that

*In Indonesia, According to the statistics of Central Bureau of Statistics (1999), there are 1,341,712 domestic workers in Indonesia; 310,378 of the are between 10 and 18 years old, which is about 23 per cent. In Jakarta the estimated number of child domestic workers are 70,792. (ILO-IPEC, Trafficking of Children, The problem and responses worldwide, citing ILO-IPEC and the University of Indonesia, 2001) there are between 2 and 2.75 million domestic workers under the age of 18 in Indonesia as a whole, with almost 1.5 million 14 years old or younger. (Anti-Slavery International, Child Domestic Work in Indonesia, 1995)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Many domestic workers are female children under the age of 15 years. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* Child domestic workers generally have to work for 15 hours a day, seven days a week. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing "The Phenomenon of Child Domestic Work: Issues, Responses and Research Findings", 19-23 November 1997)

* It is clear that a changing social structure coupled with rapid commercialisation have helped fuel the demand for child domestic workers. (Anti-Slavery International, Child Domestic Work in Indonesia, 1995)

Iran -
Iraq -
Ireland -
Israel -
Italy -
Jamaica -
Japan -
Jordan

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Abuse of domestic servants, most of whom are foreign, is widespread. Imprisonment of maids and illegal confiscation of travel documents by employers is common. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Kazakhstan

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Domestics comprise 9.4% of working children. (ILO-IPEC, Child Labour in Kazakhstan, September 1997)

Kenya

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 78% of child domestics in one survey were only paid 'in kind'. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 1997)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* A study of the lower middle class residential area in Nairobi found that 20% of households employed children in 1982, though by 1991 this had dropped to 12%. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing ILO, Child Labour in Domestic Service, unpublished, 1993)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children often work as domestic servants in private homes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

* In Kenya, a study of girls working as housemaids found that of 25 girls aged 9 to 16 years who were interviewed in depth, 18 were HIV-positive. Of those 18, most had worked in several homes and reported being sexually abused in all or most of them. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

* Children often work as domestic servants in private homes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* Millions of children toil in private homes. (Philip Ngunjiri, "Child labour on the rise", IPS, 6 December 1998)

* Exploitation of child labour, especially domestic child workers, is rampant. (Sinaga Women and Child Labour Resource Center, Domestic Child Workers: Selected Case Studies on the Situation of Girl Child Domestic Workers, July 1997)

Kiribati -
Korea, Dem. People's Republic -
Korea, Rep. -
Kosovo -
Kuwait GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* There are confirmed reports that some South Asian and Southeast Asian domestic servants are under age 18. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

Kyrgyzstan -
Laos -
Latvia -
Lebanon -
Lesotho -
Liberia GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Refugee children from conflicts in nearby Liberia and Sierra Leone can end up as domestic workers in Guinea. They are not trafficked but displaced because of internal conflicts. (Anti-Slavery International, presentation to the Libreville Consultation, February 2000)

Libya -
Liechtenstein -
Lithuania -
Luxembourg -
Madagascar -
Malawi

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* A local NGO has reported that in urban areas it is not uncommon to find young girls working as domestic servants, receiving little or no wages, and existing in a state of indentured servitude. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* There is significant child labour in domestic service. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

Malaysia -
Maldives -
Mali

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* An even greater number than 15,000 have been pressed into domestic service. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

Malta -
Marshall Islands -
Mauritania GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Suspected child trafficking activities have been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. These networks feed the domestic labour market in the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. (UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)

Mauritius

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Child labour in homes is common on Rodrigues Island. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

Mexico GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* There have been isolated cases of organised trafficking of persons for the purpose of forced prostitution, sexual services and domestic servitude. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Micronesia -
Moldova -
Monaco -
Mongolia

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children are employed informally as domestics and usually receive little or no wage. The practice of adoptive servitude, in which families adopt young girls who serve as domestic servants, is socially accepted. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

Morocco

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Another study estimated that 20,000 child maids are working in Morocco's other major cities. According to the survey, over 80 percent of the child maids are illiterate and over 80 percent are from rural areas. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001, March 2002)

* Children in Morocco are also exploited in domestic servitude and trafficked internally for that purpose. It is estimated that more than 50,000 children, work as child domestics in that country. (ILO-IPEC, Trafficking of Children, The problem and responses worldwide, citing Anti Slavery International: Reporter- July 2001, 2001)

* A sample survey shows that of the domestic workers 27% are under 10 years and 73% are under 12 years. (ILO, Child Labour: What Is To Be Done?, June 1996, citing Moroccan League for the Protection of Children in collaboration with the Ministry of Health); 70% of housemaids interviewed in 1995 were under the age of 13 with a quarter of them below 10. (Anti-Slavery International, Children working as domestic servants: progress and challenges, submission to the UN, May 1998)

* A survey found that 72% of child domestic workers began their day before 7am and went to bed after 11pm. (ILO, Targeting the Intolerable, November 1996)

LOCAL STATISTICS

* The Ministry of Planning and Economic Forecasting, with funding from UNICEF and through collaboration with domestic NGO's, conducted a survey from April to June 2000 of domestic employees in Casablanca. The study concluded that there are approximately 13,000 girls under age 15 employed as child maids in Casablanca. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001, March 2002)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children, particularly rural girls, are employed informally as domestics. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* The practice of adoptive servitude, in which families adopt young rural girls and use them as domestic servants in their homes, is prevalent. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Mozambique

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* The number of children in domestic positions appeared to be rising. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

* Children are employed in domestic positions. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

Namibia -
Nauru -
Nepal

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* 31,000 children and adolescents work as domestic servants. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labour, 1998, citing Sinaga Women and Child Labour Resource Centre, "Domestic Child Workers", July 1997)

* Some 62,000 urban domestics are under the age of 14. (UNICEF Innocenti Digest on Child Domestic Work, May 1999, citing CWIN, Urban child domestic labour in Nepal, 1995)

* On the basis of a survey, it can be estimated that at least, 10,600 children are working as domestics in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur in Kathmandu valley and over 31,000 are in the 33 municipalities of Nepal. (CWA, Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), "Domestic Child Workers in the Kathmandu Valley", Child Workers in Asia, Vol. 10, No. 1, January - March 1994)