UN: 10M Kids Slave-Like Home Servants

[struggle4progress]

An estimated 10 million children worldwide are forced to work in slave-like conditions as domestic servants in private homes, the United Nations' labor agency said Thursday.

The International Labor Organization said in a new report that in parts of West Africa, Central America and Asia, thousands of girls as young as 8 work 15 or more hours a day, seven days a week, for little or no pay.

The child workers -- who are employed in homes where having servants is a sign of social status -- are sometimes sexually abused. Some even forget their own names after being called simply "girl" or "boy" for years, the study found.

More troubling was that employing children as domestic servants is accepted or tolerated in many places, said June Kane, author of the 112-page ILO study.
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http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1934497&nav=EyAzNpsx


Too many children who are in domestic labour are victims of exploitation. As they clean, cook, care for their employer’s children, do heavy housework, they are deprived of rights due to them as children in international law — the right to play; visits with their family and friends; decent accommodation; and protection from sexual harassment or physical and mental abuse.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/event/cl2004/index.htm