Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 54

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Migrant domestic workers commonly have a particularly precarious residence status, making them dependent on their employer and hence easy to exploit. A number of countries in Asia and the Middle East (where the system is known as kafalah) still tie a domestic worker's visa to a particular family. The domestic worker is only allowed to change visa sponsors without the employers' consent in exceptional circumstances that are, in practice, hard to invoke. A live-in worker who is dismissed can find herself from one moment to the next in the street with no income, legal residence status, family support network, return air ticket or right to seek another job.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
  • Economic Rights
  • Governance & Rule of Law
  • Movement
Person(s) affected
  • Families
  • Persons on the move
Year
2010
Paragraph type
Other
Paragraph number
54