OSCE: new report “Unprotected Work, Invisible Exploitation: Trafficking for the Purpose of Domestic Servitude”

Trafficking for domestic servitude makes a significant proportion of the overall amount of trafficking in persons. Each year tens of thousands of domestic workers, mostly women and children, are exploited in a pursuit for a better life. OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) published an extensive report which claims that domestic workers and namely girls are often subjected to conditions which amount to torture. To name but a few – extreme and hazardous working conditions; working at night, sexual abuse and so on.

Not surprisingly, domestic workers are also disproportionally deprived of access to justice.

“Experience shows that the obstruction of justice in such situations has grave consequences on the protection of the trafficked persons. They have no access to justice; no legal recognition of the abuse and exploitation suffered; no compensation for the moral and material damages; no recognition of their status as victims of crime and therefore no access to protection and assistance measures foreseen in the law, especially if this support depends on the participation of the victim in the criminal proceedings.”

Read the OSCE report here