Human trafficking is a global phenomenon, driven by demand and fuelled by poverty and unemployment. Trafficking is most often spoken of in relation to sex work. However, the UN defines trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation; exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs." Most adult domestic workers fall into the category of voluntary economic migrant workers, but many domestic workers toil in intolerable conditions, are exploited, held in virtual captivity and physically, sexually and psychologically abused (State of World Population, 2006), isolated and solely dependent upon their employers. The above form of intense rights violations bring about bonded labour with intense servitude and debt bondage, which constitutes trafficking in persons [the UN protocol clarified that the critical ingredients for trafficking are: a) the presence of exploitation and b) the fact of coercion]. Many Nepali women, who come to India as domestic workers or go through India to other destination countries, are often coerced to work in these exploitative situations by recruitments agents; these are cases of trafficking.

Human trafficking is the third most lucrative illicit business in the world, and is a major source of organised crime revenue. Most of the victims are migrants in search of a better life, and are usually lured by the false promise of a decent job. Most adult domestic workers fall into the category of voluntary economic migrant workers. For some of these women, the global demand for their labour has resulted in a better standard of living, greater opportunities for their children and, in some cases, escape from bad or abusive marriages. However, as the ILO states, "Domestic workers experience a degree of vulnerability that is unparallelled to that of other workers." (State of World Population UNDP 2006, p. 51) The fact that domestic work takes place in the `private` sphere is what makes workers especially vulnerable to exploitation. Many remain outside the protection of labour legislation, leaving them little recourse in cases of abuse, non-payment or the arbitrary withholding of wages.

Trafficking  is possible because of several reasons, including a) the lack of information at source for the people who need it most, for example, the women and her young daughter mentioned in the Box; b) the lacunae in the system that permits passports and other papers to be obtained by agents rather than individuals themselves; c) the absence of any bilateral agreements between countries such as Nepal and Saudi Arabia; d) the ban itself (if there had not been a ban, perhaps the woman and daughter would have gone directly from Nepal, through a verified agency or, at least, with some check on the placement agency and labour ministry support.); e) the inability of the consular services to provide support. (They claimed that the mother and the child should not have been there in the first place! There is need to protect the interests of citizens, no matter what the circumstances); f) the lack of standards or mechanisms for protecting domestic workers in destination countries; and g) the presence of outsourcing agencies, which creates increased avenues for abuse and exploitation.

Migrant domestic workers are at higher risk of exploitation due to policies linking workers` immigration status to individual employers, excessive recruitment fees, unscrupulous agents, language barriers, wrongful detention, confiscation of passports and inadequate legal recourse.

Although the protection of many existing ILO Conventions technically apply to domestic workers, traditional perceptions of domestic workers as `helpers` rather than `workers` and the location of employment in private households rather than commercial enterprises has meant that, in practice, these protections have not extended to domestic workers. National-level legislation and existing conventions have often failed to address the unique circumstances of domestic workers and the need to provide additional and specific legal guidance to protect their rights. (Human Rights Watch, 2009). If laws that protect domestic workers exist under labour Acts, these often do not cover non-nationals, thus depriving millions of women working as domestic workers in other countries.

Conclusion

Domestic work need not always remain hazardous. By recognising domestic work as work, the security of women in this occupation could be improved. Formalising domestic work would mean that the women in the occupation get the right to assemble or join unions, which in turn provides them support. More important, recognition would mean access to legal recourse in case of exploitation.

The idea of recognition of domestic work through a Convention is to make sure that working out of sight does not mean being cut off from labour rights, or exclusion from the basic human right of decent work (ibid.)

References

• Denis Wright. 2008,  "Forced Labour, Trafficking and Migration of Women in South Asia", UNEAC Asia Papers No. 24, School of Humanities: University of New England.
• Human Rights Watch, 2009. "Decent Work for Domestic Workers." Recommendations for members responses to the ILO questionnaire.
• State of World Population. 2006.  "A Passage to Hope-Women and International Migration". UNFPA.
• The Global Campaign for Ratification of the Convention on Rights of Migrants. http://www.migrantsrights.org /about_campaign_engl.htm
• UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
• "Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing". http://www.wiego.org/occupational_groups/ domesticWorkers/index.php
• ILC 99th Session. 2010. "Decent Work for Domestic Workers".  Report IV (1)