A/HRC/39/52 others. 22 Most migrant domestic workers are from the global South, working in highincome countries. The Arab States, North America and Northern, Southern and Western Europe account for about 52 per cent of all domestic workers worldwide, with the majority being migrants.23 In the Arab States, 82.7 per cent of all domestic workers are migrants and there is a particularly strong link between female migration and domestic work in the region.24 In Hong Kong, there are approximately 370,000 migrant domestic workers (98.8 per cent are women) 25 and in Latin America and the Caribbean, 17.2 per cent of all domestic workers are migrants.26 32. A range of social and economic conditions place women migrants in situations of vulnerability, especially if they are members of indigenous groups, members of caste affected groups or if they face multigenerational poverty. 27 Discrimination on various grounds increases the chance of already vulnerable individuals becoming trapped in domestic servitude, reducing their opportunity to escape from the situation either in the short- or long-term. Marginalized women often suffer long-standing patterns of discrimination that perpetuate not only domestic work but also the migration cycle. Women migrant domestic workers are discriminated against on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin and social status, which leads to intersecting disadvantages. Furthermore, discriminatory migration policies limit women’s access to safe and orderly migration pathways, which in turn limits their job opportunities in transit and host countries. On that basis, many migrant women end up in informal employment, particularly in domestic and care work.28 They often do not have employment contracts, which makes it difficult to protect and claim their rights.29 In Mexico, for example, 9 out of 10 domestic workers do not have a contract.30 33. Informal jobs perpetuate traditional gender norms regarding “women’s work” and they offer limited or no social protection or labour rights. That is related to the fact that domestic work is not considered as employment under labour law and thus households are not recognized as workplaces and private persons who hire them are not recognized as employers (see A/HRC/15/20, para. 75). ILO estimates that 75 per cent of all domestic workers are in informal jobs and only 10 per cent of all domestic workers are covered by general labour legislation to the same extent as other workers and 29.9 per cent are completely excluded from the scope of national labour legislation. 31 The exclusion of domestic work from labour protections is one of the manifestations of discriminatory attitudes towards women’s work and it also makes domestic workers more vulnerable to servitude.32 34. In European Union member countries, for example, application of labour rights to domestic workers is very limited in both law and practice, in particular for undocumented domestic workers.33 Consequently, the usual labour standards often do not apply to migrant domestic workers, for example with regard to maximum or standard working hours, as applicable to other sectors.34 In that context, victims are at risk of being criminalized for immigration or criminal offences that are committed as a direct result of exploitation: they may be penalized for being undocumented if their employer or recruitment agent retains their passport, or they may even be subjected to corporal punishment for immigration 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 8 ILO, Domestic Workers Across the World: Global and Regional Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection (Geneva, 2013). ILO Global Estimates on Migrant Workers. Ibid. Government of Hong Kong, China, action plan to tackle trafficking in persons and enhance protection of foreign domestic helpers (March 2018). ILO Global Estimates on Migrant Workers. PICUM, GAATW and La Strada International, submission for the present report. Ibid. Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial, submission for the present report. See submission of Mexico. ILO, Domestic workers across the world. Ibid. Submission of PICUM, GAATW and La Strada International. Justice Centre Hong Kong, submission for the present report.