Time to convert trafficking awareness into action for domestic workers

About 5 years ago, I counseled a woman named “Charlene” who had come to the United States with the promise of employment and a G-5 visa—a perfectly legal document that is intended for domestic workers employed by staff of international organizations like the World Bank. Instead of the promised employment, she was enslaved as a domestic servant. When she escaped her horrific situation, I helped her find work at a home health agency where she rightly expected to be safe, but ultimately needed assistance with a wage theft issue. Years after that, I worked with a woman named “Beatrice” who was trafficked as a child domestic worker in Maryland. Though she escaped more than ten years ago, she recently sent me an email explaining that she is facing eviction and still looking for decent employment. 

As you may know, January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. This is a wonderful opportunity for advocates and survivors to draw the attention of the president, reporters and legislators, and to raise awareness of a despicable human rights violation. But it’s also a reminder that stories like Charlene’s and Beatrice’s still occur every day. Sadly, our nation is ill equipped to provide trafficking survivors with the long-term support they need, and the women I work with and advocate for – severely exploited nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers – remain hidden faces of modern slavery.  

{mosads}Domestic labor trafficking victims and survivors are not included in many legislative proposals that narrowly focus on child sex trafficking; they are not included in sex trafficking-centric task forces; they are even overlooked by the media, which seems to prefer covering sex trafficking almost exclusively. And too often, policy makers and the media focus on short-sighted rescue rhetoric to the exclusion of talking about long-term solutions to prevent all forms of human trafficking and to provide adequate long-term services for all survivors. We believe that vulnerability to trafficking is structural, so we need a more comprehensive response plan.  

In 2013, the National Domestic Workers Alliance launched Beyond Survival, a campaign to build survivor leadership and promote a community organizing approach to ending human trafficking. Today we are publishing a new report from the campaign entitled Beyond Survival: Organizing to End Human Trafficking of Domestic Workers. The report provides an overview of the problem of domestic worker trafficking in the United States, and outlines recommendations for state, federal and international government action that could make a difference for domestic workers.

Among the recommendations: 

1.      Congress should reform temporary work visa programs with more mobility, transparency, oversight, and a pathway to citizenship to help prevent labor trafficking.

2.      The U.S. Department of State should ensure meaningful consequences for diplomats and international officials and agencies who defraud or abuse domestic workers, including requesting waivers of immunity and suspending countries and agencies from the ability to bring more workers.

3.      The Department of Justice should prioritize human trafficking cases that domestic workers bring forward – evidence shows that forced domestic work is likely one of the most prevalent forms of trafficking for labor in the U.S.

4.      U.S. agencies, particularly Health and Human Services and Department of Labor, should receive adequate appropriations to provide services to victims of domestic labor trafficking; and federal funding for victim services should address long-term needs such as housing and employment.

5.      Victim services programs should promote collaboration and access to funds by community-based organizations that are well positioned to assist domestic workers.

These, and many more things need to happen if we are to turn trafficking awareness into meaningful action. I’ve known far too many women who suffer through the unimaginably traumatic experience of labor trafficking only to emerge and find themselves victimized a second time by a system ill-equipped to help them get back on their feet. It is time for Congress and the Administration to escalate its response to the labor trafficking of domestic workers in the United States. 

For more information on what you can do now, read the full report at www.domesticworkers.org/beyondsurvival

Williams is a licensed graduate social worker (LGSW) at the National Domestic Workers Alliance.