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Servile marriage 2012, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- In societies in which women are considered vulnerable because they have no male protectors, the levirate, a custom by which a man may be obliged to marry his brother's widow, can be used to expose a widow to mental, physical and sexual abuse in the name of tradition. Most recently, the practice has been highlighted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as an issue to be addressed in the Congo (CEDAW/C/COG/CO/6, para. 15).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The leading cause of servile marriage is gender inequality, where girls and women are perceived, because of cultural or religious beliefs, to be commodities unable to make proper decisions about who and when to marry. Girls and women are forced to become brides because it is easier to control them and, in the case of girls, their virginity can be guaranteed and they have longer reproductive periods in which to produce more children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- [Domestic servitude is rooted in entrenched patterns of gender discrimination and discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity and caste. At the heart of the problem is the fact that work in or for the household, whether paid or unpaid, is undervalued:] States should reinforce their efforts to implement the commitments agreed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the Durban Review Conference.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The availability of domestic help has contributed to women's empowerment, because it has allowed many women to reconcile their professional aspirations with their gendered social obligations towards their children and family. It is therefore a bitter irony that the women and girls who made such advances possible are often subjected to a form of exploitation that is gender-based at its heart.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Domestic work is work performed in or for a household and includes cooking, cleaning, washing, gardening, being a chauffeur, taking care of children, the elderly and domestic pets. It remains a highly gendered activity. Throughout the world, the vast majority of domestic workers are women. Women's share of total domestic employment stands at 83 per cent in Switzerland, 93.3 per cent in Brazil and 90.7 per cent in Ethiopia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Domestic workers are often "physically invisible" to the general public. More importantly, much as in other gendered relationships, domestic work is deliberately made invisible to public scrutiny: A "private sphere" is socially constructed, where labour relationships are supposedly beyond State or social control. This thinking is reminiscent of archaic arguments that sought to condone domestic violence against women or children as a "private matter", rather than recognizing the crimes that such acts constitute.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Domestic work is one of the largest service industries in the world, but it is among the least visible due to its location in the private sphere. Many women in domestic work find themselves physically and socially isolated and their right to organize is significantly restricted. Live-in workers are often expected to work 16-17 hours a day, frequently without a day off or vacation time. The work can be extremely taxing, including carrying heavy loads and handling toxic substances. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse occur in situations of domestic servitude. Employers often confiscate domestic workers' passports or identity papers and withhold their wages for "safe keeping", which makes it very difficult for them to leave their employment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Gender inequality also contributes to servile marriage through its impact on formal legal systems. Although a woman's right to choose if, when and whom to marry is recognized in international human rights law, and although the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other treaty bodies state that the minimum age of marriage should be 18 years, several countries with high rates of early marriage also have unequal laws of consent for boys and girls. Such laws reinforce and legalize the idea that marriage is suitable for girls earlier than for boys. Patriarchal laws and practices give women and girls less negotiating power around marriage and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law outlaws domestic and other forms of servitude. Apart from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery, relevant norms can be found in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8), the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (art. 11), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (art. 27), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 7 on just and favourable conditions of work) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 19 and 32), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 11 on women's right not to be discriminated in the field of employment).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Caste-based discrimination, found in various cultural contexts, and domestic servitude are linked. In South Asia, so-called "untouchables" (dalits) and certain indigenous communities make up the vast majority of people in domestic bonded labour, which is a form of domestic servitude. Moreover, specific types of degrading domestic chores are specifically associated with lower castes and linked to exploitative conditions. In certain States in India, despite a long-standing Government campaign to eradicate the practice, many dalit women reportedly still have to engage in "manual scavenging": because of their caste they are expected to take care of scraping human excrement from dry toilets in private households or public places.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- On the job, domestic workers are also confronted with gender-based discrimination. Stereotypical gender roles that assign domestic chores to the women of the family - who are expected to take care of them without reward, recognition or remonstration - are transposed to the professional context. This helps explain why domestic workers are often expected to be always available - notwithstanding labour standards on maximum working hours, rest days and vacation. Because domestic work was traditionally performed by female family members for free, many employers feel reticent to pay a serious salary for work they think should really cost no more than room, board and a measure of gratitude.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Domestic work also draws in many women and girls with irregular migration status, because it is less visible, usually provides cash payment and, in many cases, a place to stay. Women in such situations usually fear reporting exploitation to the authorities, especially where criminal investigations and the enforcement of labour standards are linked to immigration control. Domestic workers without papers include women who should qualify for asylum or other protected status, but face deportation because States fail to respect their international obligations not to subject to refoulement persons who would face persecution or torture upon their return. Victims of gender-based persecution - e.g. women at risk of "honour" killings - are also prone to becoming undocumented migrants vulnerable to exploitation, because national authorities fail to recognize such persecution or unrealistically assume that the victim has "internal flight alternatives" in her country of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Forced marriage combines sexual exploitation with domestic servitude. The victims are forced to perform household chores in line with gendered stereotypes, while submitting to their husbands' sexual demands. The link between forced marriages and servitude is explicitly recognized by article 1 (c) of the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery, which considers women to be persons of servile status if they have been subjected to: "Any institution or practice whereby: (i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or (ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or (iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In recent years, the migration of women for domestic work has rapidly grown and become one of the key factors in the ongoing feminization of migration. An entire industry of migrant domestic work has evolved, driven by a surging demand for domestic work in richer countries, stark global income inequalities and transnational recruitment agencies. Migrants, mainly women from Asia, are now the largest group of domestic workers in the Middle East and Europe. Domestic work opportunities draw migrant women with little formal education and more educated women lacking linguistic qualifications or the internationally accepted diplomas to find other types of work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Domestic work constitutes one of the largest, yet least visible service industries in the world. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that between 4 and 10 per cent of the employed workforce in developing countries is engaged in domestic work. For industrialized countries, the figure stands between 1 and 2.5 per cent of total employment. Demand for domestic work is spurred by an increase in women's employment without matching policy measures to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life and an aging population coupled with a trend to move towards more home care. Furthermore, there is a correlation between an increase in income inequalities in a country and an increase in domestic work. In some countries, hiring domestic workers has become a new status symbol signifying belonging to the middle or upper class.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Priorities of the new mandate holder 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In addition to children in domestic servitude and other forms of slavery, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the uneven implementation, and in some areas retrogression, of the human rights of women as guaranteed under international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Women are disproportionately affected by forced labour. Of the estimated 21 million people in situations of forced labour, 11.4 million (55 per cent) are women and girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
16 shown of 16 entities