Steps to protect domestic workers remain elusive

13 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Farhana Urmee

Trauma of physical abuse continues to haunt Shimul, a 10-year-old domestic help who worked in a house at Tongi. It was April 28 when the wife of her employer meted out savage physical abuse to Shimul with a hot spatula. The next three days she suffered unbearable pain without any treatment. All she could do was cry without being noticed, as she was warned not to tell anybody about her pain. But as her condition deteriorated, Shimul was taken to hospital. Her rectum was torn during the attack. She had to undergo two surgeries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a week. But what was her fault? “I broke a flower vase by accident," Shimul said. She will need to undergo another surgery later, Dr Salma Sultana said, adding that the girl might suffer problems during defecation throughout her life. Shimul, who hails from Pirojpur, is one of the four lakh children working in houses across the country. Of them, only 1,32,000 work in the Dhaka city alone, according to a baseline survey conducted by BBS and Unicef in 2006. Some 75 percent of child domestic workers are girls who are exposed to various forms of violence. Shimul had been working at a house in Tongi for three years, away from her family, friends and neighbours to earn her own bread. A case has been filed with Tongi Police Station. According to 2008 statistics of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 479 child domestic workers were subjected to violence and some perpetrators were prosecuted, but due to imbalance of power between the parties, victims were compelled to compromise or to withdraw their cases. During the period from 2005 to 2009, child domestic workers fell victim to violence and torture, often leading to suicide or killing, according to another statistic of the organisation. A survey said a total of 524 child domestic workers of different ages fell victim to physical torture and assault, unnatural death, suicide, acid throwing, murder and trafficking. But only 325 cases were filed. Neena Goswami, senior deputy director, Legal Aid, ASK, said, “In most cases, parents of a child domestic worker do not want to file cases because legal proceedings are time consuming and costly." “Even if a case is filed, the victim does not receive justice, as the perpetrators who usually belong to a well-off class settle the issue out of court by paying compensation to the victim's family,” she added. According to a survey by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, a total of 37 domestic workers died at work due to violence and accidents in 2009. Of them, 26 workers were between 7 and 18 years. The survey was conducted on the basis of newspaper reports. Child domestic workers account for 93 percent of the total 7.4 million child labour engaged in informal working sectors, says a study conducted by Save The Children Sweden-Denmark and ASK in 2009. Left out of the labour law 2006, domestic work is recognised as an informal sector and there is no authority to monitor the working conditions of the children in this sector. There is only a 'Domestic Servant Registration Ordinance 1961' in the country, but it does not define the rights of the workers or obligations of the employers. It only requires self-registration of the domestic helps with the local police station within 15 days from their employment. There is a draft policy titled 'Domestic Workers' Protection and Welfare Policy', but its implementation is far from guaranteed.