AWARD CATEGORY: CHILD DOMESTIC SERVITUDE
The hidden nature of domestic servitude means that victims are often denied any contact outside of
the domestic setting, making them invisible.
Child domestic servitude refers to children (under 18s) trafficked into the UK (or sometimes around
the UK) to work as domestic servants, nannies, housekeepers. Once working within a home,
exploitation such as sexual abuse, domestic servitude, benefit fraud, forced marriage, illegal adoption
and exploitation of a child for residency purposes can occur. Domestic servitude quite often
encompasses hazardous working conditions, malnutrition and exposition to cruel or violent treatment.
In the UK, from March to June 2015, 15 children were referred for domestic servitude (11
females and 4 males). Organisations such as BAWSO, Kalayaan and Justice 4 Domestic Workers
aim to support adults and young people who have been abused in this way; they are also
campaigning to have the ‘Visa Tie’ lifted, which currently means that foreign domestic workers
brought into this country cannot change employers on the same visa, thus deepening isolation and
exploitation.
There is more information about domestic servitude and child slavery on Unchosen’s website. If
you’d like to discuss this case study further, please contact [email protected].
ADINA: A Case Study from Unicef
Adina Mukakalisa was originally from Rwanda, but moved to Uganda when she was very young.
When she was a teenager, her parents both died, and she found work helping on a market stall in
Kampala. One day, when Adina was nearly 15 years old, the woman who ran the stall told her to go
with two men who were going to take her to live abroad, where she would be safe and could go to
school.
Adina was put on a plane to the UK. A man collected her at the airport and took her to a house where
another man was living. For the next two years, Adina was forced to live in the locked kitchen. She
had access only to a toilet and a basin where she could wash. If she climbed on a chair, she could
just see into the garden. She didn’t know where she was. Adina’s “job” was to clean and cook for the
man who, after some time, was joined by a second.
After a couple of months, her job took on a new element – she was taken upstairs and raped.
This went on for a long time. After around two years – exact timings are difficult in such
circumstances – one of the men, drunk, failed to lock the kitchen door. As he slept, Adina found the
keys to the front door…. But as she shut the door behind her, he woke up and ran after her. She had
to hide in a ditch and, when he had gone, she managed to flag down a passing car.
The driver dropped her at Marylebone Police Station in London, and they called social services, who
got her the help and support she needed. Adina was then just 17 years old.
http://www.unicef.org.uk
Unchosen, Films Against Slavery. Easton Business Centre, Felix Road, Bristol BS5 0HE Tel: 00 44 (0)117 941 5331
www.unchosen.org.uk [email protected]
Unchosen is a Company limited by guarantee and registered in England: Number 07014345.
Registered Charity: Number 1139721. Registered address: Mailbox 526, 179 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG.
Honorary President: Nick Broomfield. Patron: Ken Loach