| Policy makers have ignored for too long Washington, DC's dirty little secret: in the nation's capital, the State Department unwittingly facilitates the trafficking, exploitation and enslavement of poor women of color from around the world. It does so by issuing special nonimmigrant employment visas - more than 3,000 every year - so that ambassadors, foreign diplomats, consular officers, and employees of international organizations like the United Nations and the IMF can bring their nannies and other household workers into the US. Too often, these domestic workers become slaves in the household, unaware of their rights and unable to escape. And their tormentors are shielded by the domestic worker's anonymity and by diplomatic immunity.
It's time for Congress to bring this shameful practice to an end. They must shatter the culture of impunity that has developed within some parts of the diplomatic community and has resulted in the widespread violations of the human rights of domestic workers. As the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act winds its way through Congress, it presents the perfect opportunity for policymakers to put into place laws that make clear the enslavement of domestic workers by diplomats within the US will no longer be tolerated.
And I'm not using the word "enslaved" lightly. Many of these women rise before the sun, seven days a week, and clean, sweep, scrub, wax, cook, serve, wash, iron, mend, fold, and care for children until well after the sun sets. They are paid a pittance - $100 for 4,500 hours of work over 11 months in one Potomac, Maryland case - or nothing at all. They are fed the family's scraps, forced to sleep on a mat on the kitchen floor and denied basic healthcare even when sick or injured. Some of these women are prisoners in their employer's home - their passports are confiscated or they are forbidden from leaving the house. Some are not allowed to practice their faith. Some are beaten, or mentally and sexually abused and are threatened with deportation if they report the abuse or try to escape.
These women came to this country from places like Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Paraguay in order to provide for themselves and their families and are told, by the State Department, that they will be protected by the law of the United States. Instead, they find themselves exploited and enslaved in places like Gaithersburg, MD, McLean, VA and Washington, DC.
Alone and dependent on their employers, they face barriers of language, education, and culture, isolation in the home, and discrimination based on race and gender and are, thus, particularly vulnerable to abusive employers. In the words of Raziah Begum, who worked for a Bangladeshi diplomat, "They treated me no better than they would treat a stray dog. They tried to take from me my humanity."
Because of their employer's profession, these women are rendered even more defenseless because, in the United States, diplomats are immune from the criminal and civil jurisdiction of our courts. In other words, they cannot be held accountable for their illegal actions
How is it that this deeply troubling practice has continued unaddressed? We can't claim ignorance because, truthfully, this hasn't been such a well-hidden secret. In 1997, The Progressive published an article titled "DC's Indentured Servants." In 2001, Human Rights Watch authored a report, Hidden in the Home, that documented the abuses suffered by domestic workers at the hands of diplomats. In 2004, a report to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights described the vulnerability of migrant domestic workers employed by diplomats and urged the international community to act to protect the rights of these workers. In 2005, two human rights experts participated in a Domestic Workers Human Rights Tribunal to address the situation of domestic workers in the United States.
And, if all that attention wasn't enough to spur some action, most recently, in 2007, a shy, young woman from Tanzania named Zipora Mazengo sat before the late Chairman Tom Lantos of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, members of the committee and a packed hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building, and recounted her story of abuse and exploitation that lasted almost 4 years until she was able to escape.
Congress needs no additional information or time to act. The time has come. Advocates have asked for the enactment of reasonable, thoughtful measures that would protect domestic workers and help prevent this type of abuse. Some of these measures include:
- better training of consular officials who can inform domestic workers of their rights,
- a pamphlet written in multiple languages that explains domestic workers' rights,
- a model employment contract with clear terms and conditions to replace the haphazard and rarely-used contract recommended by the State Department,
- a follow-up visit with the domestic worker within three months of their arrival in the US and not in the presence of the employer to ensure they are not being victimized,
- the development and implementation of an insurance scheme, compensation fund or bond program that ensures domestic workers will receive appropriate compensation when the employer breaches the contract and thereby closes the gap in accountability created by diplomatic immunity.
The legislation that recently passed the House of Representatives, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act (HR 3887), is a good beginning. But many key provisions are missing. The Senate bill has yet to be introduced. We urge the Senate to continue the work and to finish the job. It's time to end slavery in Washington, DC. Again. |
