Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 41 entities
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have introduced standard contracts for migrant domestic workers that provide certain minimum standards of employment. In 2007, for example, the United Arab Emirates introduced a standard contract for domestic workers that details entitlements relating to wages, rest breaks, payment of salaries and medical treatment. Lebanon followed suit in 2009. Standard contracts constitute a significant advance, although many still fall short of guaranteeing minimum international standards, including non-discrimination between different types of workers. The introduction of standard contracts can supplement, but not substitute labour legislation. Effective labour laws protect domestic workers by setting out penalties, monitoring systems, accessible complaint mechanisms and effective remedies that go beyond the inherent limits of contract law.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Extend the equal protection of their labour laws to domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers, and end any discriminatory denial of entitlements regarding working hours, rest days, vacation, health care, maternity leave and protection from unfair dismissal.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- [The criminalization of all forms of slavery and servitude, in line with States' international obligations, is one aspect of an effective response. At the same time, the issue is embedded in the wider challenge to ensure that domestic workers are finally provided with equal protection of their labour rights. Combating domestic servitude and protecting domestic workers' rights are two sides of the same coin. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Require that domestic workers receive a written contract in a language they can understand and that wage payments are made into a bank account. States should set a minimum wage for all domestic workers, including migrants, that should be above the poverty line of the country concerned and under no circumstances lower than the World Bank reference line indicating poverty (currently set at US$ 2 per day). Any additional payments in kind should not be counted towards the minimum wage.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- 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
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Child slavery in the artisanal mining and quarrying sector 2011, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur recommends that States ratify fully and implement all relevant international legal instruments to prevent child slavery such as the 1926 Slavery Convention, the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Certain countries also have laws that make migrant workers vulnerable to slavery-like practices. For example, in the Dominican Republic, temporary migrants must be provided with a "temporary worker card". This carnet only allows them "to perform the gainful activity for which they were admitted, for the authorized period of time and within the authorized area". Migration Law 285-04 stipulates that employers should "repatriate" workers once their carnets expire, giving employers the authority to deport workers. This creates a legal restriction on migrant workers' freedom of movement, links them to a specific employer and creates an inherent menace of penalty of deportation for leaving their jobs or workplaces.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In Nepal, the Bonded Labour (Prohibition) Act, 2058 (2002) abolished bonded labour in the country. The 2002 Act makes null and void all the debts contracted by persons in debt bondage and requires the establishment of freed bonded labourer rehabilitation and monitoring committees in a number of districts. The 2002 Act provides for penalties and fines for perpetrators. In 2010, the Ministry of Land Reform and Management presented a haliya system (prohibition) bill, setting out the rights of freed haliya, and establishing a rehabilitation fund, a case litigation and appeal process, and provision for punishment. However, the bill has not yet passed into law. In May 2011, the Government issued the "Freed haliya rehabilitation and monitoring guidelines", which mandated district-level task forces to update the information on freed haliya and to distribute identification cards to them within six months of their being identified.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In Germany, subjecting a person under the age of 21 to debt bondage is penalized under the Criminal Code (section 233 (1)) with a term of imprisonment of between 6 months and 10 years. In Australia, the offence of debt bondage is penalized by 4 years' imprisonment, under section 271.8 of the Criminal Code. Furthermore, the Government of Australia has adopted the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery 2015-2019, which includes actions to combat debt bondage. Other measures include the setting up in 2015 of Task Force Cadena to tackle serious incidents of illegal work, visa fraud and worker exploitation, with a focus on industries such as food production and agriculture, and the establishment of the Ministerial Working Group Protecting Vulnerable Visa Holders to consider policy options to protect vulnerable foreign workers in Australia.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Slavery and compulsory or forced labour are separate practices that are addressed independently in most international human rights documents. The Slavery Convention establishes that States should "take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery" (art. 5). ILO Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour defines forced labour as, "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily" (art. 2). The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, ILO Convention No. 182 and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) all address forced labour.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- In the Middle East, migrant workers represent a significant portion of the labour force in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, particularly in the private sector. The individual sponsorship system, known as the kafalah system, which ties the employment and residency of a worker to a specific employer, is considered to be an arrangement that creates dependency of the worker on the employer and encourages abuses, including debt bondage. The fees charged by recruitment agencies for travel arrangements, labour contracts and other services trap migrant workers into bondage in their home countries. Consequently, migrant workers are often indebted upon arrival in the country of destination. Furthermore, practices such as the confiscation of passports, the non-payment, underpayment or delayed payment of wages, and contract substitution are considered to contribute to debt bondage. Those who are most susceptible to debt bondage in these countries are Asians who work as migrant labourers and domestic servants.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [Migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to subjugation to servitude, since they often have a precarious migration status and face prejudices. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Foster their multilateral and bilateral cooperation to accredit and regulate recruitment and placement agencies. Bilateral agreements on migrant domestic work should be binding, based on international standards; guarantee non-discrimination compared to local workers and provide for effective mechanisms to ensure compliance.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- [Domestic workers have made impressive gains in organizing themselves across the globe. More efforts are needed, however, to empower individual workers. The Special Rapporteur recommends:] National authorities, cooperating with domestic workers associations, unions and national human rights institutions, should launch campaigns to inform prospective and current domestic workers what rights they have and how they can enforce them. Information has to be provided in places and languages accessible to all domestic workers, including migrants.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The right to be free from slavery is a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted and creates an erga omnes obligation on all States to protect this right. It is entrenched in the Slavery Convention of 1926 and has been incorporated into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 4), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (1)) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)).
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- [Normative action at the international level reflects has long been a reflection of the indolence of many States to provide effective protection against domestic servitude at the national level. The Special Rapporteur therefore welcomes the fact that the ILO finally resolved to adopt a convention on decent standards for domestic work and hopes that recommendations contained in this report will be reflected in the Convention. The Special Rapporteur recommends that:] States cooperate within the ILO to ensure that the future convention on decent standards domestic work is based on the major human rights treaties and entails specific commitments to regulate all aspects of recruitment, placement and work, including with regard to migrant domestic work.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The migrant domestic sector is particularly underregulated. Many countries have left the organization of this sector entirely to transnational recruitment agencies who are often more concerned with satisfying employers' needs than protecting the human rights of the human beings they recruit. In some cases, the authorities have not even put in place basic measures, such as a registration system that records which recruitment agency is bringing in which domestic worker and who that person ends up working for. Problems are often handled by immigration authorities, which lack the technical expertise to appropriately address them.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- In recent years, sending and receiving countries have intensified their cooperation in concluding bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding to regulate migrant domestic work and protect migrant. A bilateral agreement between Argentina and Peru, for instance, guarantees that migrant domestic workers receive the same treatment as nationals under labour law with respect to wages, working conditions and social security. Other agreements, however, are less progressive and fail to enshrine fundamental protections like guaranteed rest days or prohibition of arbitrary wage deductions. Moreover, there are often problems in the implementation of the undertakings made under these bilateral agreements.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have abolished such legislation. For example, by Act No. 14 of 1999, Egypt abolished the pardon formerly granted to a perpetrator who married a kidnapped victim. In 2005, Brazil amended its Penal Code along the same lines.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The identification of victims is greatly aided by strengthening the capacity of labour inspectorates and other public institutions, such as police and immigration authorities, and by raising the awareness of authorities regarding laws on contemporary forms of slavery and techniques for identifying victims. The creation of specialized units to identify victims is also crucial. In the Czech Republic, a special police department aimed at uncovering forced labour was established in April 2006. Brazil also offers an important and highly successful example of specialized training, with its mobile inspections unit comprised of representatives from across government enforcement agencies.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- While in the Slavery Convention reference is made to forced labour and States are called on to take all necessary measures to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to slavery (art. 5), forced labour was not defined until the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). The right not to be subjected to forced labour is now enshrined in a number of other international instruments, including in the ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (3)) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11 (1)). In the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and the effective abolition of child labour is required.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- [Normative action at the international level reflects has long been a reflection of the indolence of many States to provide effective protection against domestic servitude at the national level. The Special Rapporteur therefore welcomes the fact that the ILO finally resolved to adopt a convention on decent standards for domestic work and hopes that recommendations contained in this report will be reflected in the Convention. The Special Rapporteur recommends that:] States should consider ratifying ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182) and the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and withdraw reservations excluding domestic workers from the scope of application of conventions to which they are a state party.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Eradicating contemporary forms of slavery from supply chains 2015, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In other cases, some legal jurisdictions are part of the problem, exacerbating the vulnerability of workers to contemporary forms of slavery. This is the case in countries where laws tie migrant workers to specific employers, preventing them from leaving without the employer's authorization. In some countries, for example, certain categories of workers are not guaranteed their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and thus not allowed to form or join trade unions or hold office within them, which adds to their vulnerability.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Origin and destination countries should work together to ensure the effective monitoring of the situation of migrant workers and that adequate protection systems are in place.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- [Migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to subjugation to servitude, since they often have a precarious migration status and face prejudices. The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Recognize migrant domestic workers' right to freely choose where they reside and abolish any live-in requirements stipulated by law or regulations.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- [Domestic workers have made impressive gains in organizing themselves across the globe. More efforts are needed, however, to empower individual workers. The Special Rapporteur recommends:] Working with existing domestic workers associations and cooperatives, labour unions should make greater efforts to include domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. B.
- Paragraph text
- [Recommendations to Member States:] Develop a comprehensive system of regulation of recruitment practices in relation to migrant workers that includes the banning of recruitment fees and the issuing of licences to recruiters and other related intermediaries.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- In regard to migrant workers who are in debt bondage as a result of abusive recruitment practices, a comprehensive programme of initiatives needs to be implemented by States. This should include awareness-raising, training on safe migration, and capacity-building, for prospective migrants, officials from local and central government, and civil society organizations; the effective regulation of recruitment agencies and intermediaries; and regional and international cooperation on the issue.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is concerned that sending countries have a tendency to hush up credible reports of exploitation committed by their diplomats, rather than to launch criminal investigations. Meanwhile, receiving countries often lack the courage to demand a lifting of diplomatic immunity or declare perpetrating diplomats to be personae non grata, while at the same time providing independent residence rights to the victims.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Neo-bondage may also emerge in the context of migration for domestic work. Migrant domestic workers will often assume a considerable debt towards the employer or the agency organizing her recruitment and transport to cover the cost of the air ticket and recruitment fees. The domestic worker is then expected to work off this debt. In many countries, migrant domestic workers are not able to change employers as the validity of their visa depends on the initial employer's sponsorship (see section 2f). In addition, they might be blocked from returning to their home country, because employers or recruitment agencies withhold passports or return air tickets. They cannot leave their position before they have worked off their recruitment debt. With salaries being often as low as US$ 100-300 per month, this means that migrant domestic workers become bonded for long periods to a single employer, making them easily exploitable.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- A specific protection gap exists with regard to domestic workers employed by diplomats or international civil servants with diplomatic status. A number of cases have been reported, in which diplomats subjected their domestic employees to servitude and related abuse. Migrant domestic workers employed by diplomats are a particular vulnerable group. Firstly, their visa status typically depends on continued employment by the diplomat and they are therefore not free to change employers in case of exploitation. Secondly, diplomatic immunities and privileges shield diplomats from the enforcement of national legislation. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats enjoy immunity from criminal action. In addition, many foreign ministries and courts tend to interpret the Vienna Convention as granting diplomats immunity from civil suits brought by their domestic workers, even though article 31 of the Vienna Convention excludes civil immunity for "professional or commercial activity exercised by the diplomatic agent in the receiving State outside his official functions".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- A recent study of the laws of ten Asian countries with large numbers of domestic workers found that only three countries included domestic workers in their labour legislation and only one provided full labour protection to domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers. Middle Eastern States with the same legislative shortcoming have long been contemplating to extend their existing labour laws to domestic workers or adopt specific legislation for them. In recent years, however, only Jordan has successfully reformed its labour law to include domestic workers. In some European countries, the domestic work aspect of au pair arrangements is not recognized, leading to regulatory protection gaps.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph