violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“I sleep in one room by myself, at night, the male owner of the house knocks at my room, now I am indire straits because I am afraid to report this, I am also afraid that will lose my job. This is becauseI have lost both parents, and I would not like to leave this job.”Girl, 12, domestic labour, 2005 VI6beating, whipping, pulling hair, scalding withwater or an iron, and denial of food. The psychologicalviolence includes shouting, namecalling,insults, threats, and obscene language.The girls are often subjected to sexual harassment,and sometimes rape; pregnancy mayalso lead to their ejection onto the street bythe employer. 45 Physical health consequencescan also arise from lack of food, and failure tolook after injuries or treat sickness.or social peers, not being able to play even withthe employer’s children. 50 Child domestics areoften referred to by a derogatory label or deniedthe use of their own name. In Haiti, the term‘restavèks’ (‘stay withs’) has come to mean someoneunwanted, and is often used as an insult;a restavèk girl may also be called ‘la pou sa’, or‘there for that’, meaning available for sex. 51 Theseexperiences leave children with deep feelings ofinferiority and chronically low self-esteem.Consultations with children in domesticlabour have revealed these high levels of violence.In the Philippines and Peru, almost allchild domestic workers reported that they hadsuffered maltreatment consisting of physicalpunishment, discrimination, humiliation andsexual harassment. 46 In Fiji, eight out of 10domestic workers reported that their employershad sexually abused them. 47 Research in ElSalvador found that 66% of girls in domesticservice reported having been abused, and thatthe threat of sexual advances from employersor visitors was always present. 48 In a local studyin the United Republic of Tanzania, 43% ofchild domestic labourers reported being beaten,insulted, denied food, fined for damages, orforced to remain out of doors. 49 In Nepal, childrenfrequently start work at the age of 8 or 10,and if the employer becomes annoyed with thegirl and abusive towards her, she may arbitrarilytransfer the girl to another household. Suchchildren lose touch with their families entirely.Isolation and psychological distressOne of the most painful experiences for childdomestic labourers is that of being consistentlytreated as an inferior being; of having no friendsFor girls who are dismissed or fall pregnant andare excluded from the household the street andprostitution are likely, as few other options areavailable. 52 Lack of resources, lack of knowledgeabout how to travel or where to go, andthe shame of being ‘spoiled’ 53 prevent themfrom returning home. A report from the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania found that girls arrivingin support centres for sexually exploited childrenhad been thrown out of homes where theywere working as domestics and had been sexuallyabused and ended up on the streets; somewere as young as 10 years old. 54Children exploited in the sex industryThe exploitation of children under 18 in prostitution,in child and adolescent pornographyor sex shows, constitutes prima facie violenceagainst them. 55 Making children performsexual acts or acts with sexual overtones, orproviding a child to someone else to use in anysexual way, is a violation of child rights andcriminalised throughout the world. Childrenof working age have themselves condemnedthis form of earning, speaking of the sex tradeas a criminal activity, not to be confused withother types of work. 56245Violence against children in places of work