A/HRC/15/20* B. Manifestations of domestic servitude and domestic slavery 23. Owing to the indicated vulnerabilities, domestic workers are often subject to unfair and exploitative labour practices. Some are paid way below minimum wage standards or not at all, while others are confronted with the arbitrary deduction or withholding of wages. Many domestic workers are expected to live with their employers, yet are only offered substandard or degrading living conditions. Live-in workers might be expected to work 16–18 hours a day, be always on call and forego regular rest days and vacations. They frequently face restrictions on their freedom of communication and movement. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse is also common. 24. The line between domestic work, albeit accompanied by serious violations of fair labour standards, and domestic servitude and slavery is difficult to draw. In practice, there is a wide spectrum ranging from domestic workers engaged in labour relationships that follow applicable labour and human rights standards to victims of domestic servitude and slavery. Owing to the criminal and hence clandestine nature of servitude and slavery, it is impossible to determine what percentage of domestic workers are actually victims thereof. 25. Slavery and servitude have in common that the victim is economically exploited, totally dependent on other individuals and cannot end the relationship at his or her own volition. In cases of slavery, as classically defined by the Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour and Similar Institutions and Practices Convention of 1926, the perpetrator puts forward a claim to “own” the victim that is sustained by custom, social practice or domestic law, even though it violates international law. In servitude and slavery like practices, no such claim to formal ownership exists.7 This does not mean that servitude is the lesser human rights violation: the humiliation, exploitation and suffering can be equally or more intense depending on the nature of the individual case. 26. Domestic servitude and domestic slavery can be distinguished by the fact that the exploitation takes place primarily in or around the household of the perpetrators. In many cases, these phenomena go hand in hand with other forms of servitude and slavery. Beyond having to do household chores, for instance, a victim might be forced to work in agriculture, in the market or engage in prostitution. 27. The Special Rapporteur has discerned a number of instances, where people engaged in domestic work are victims of servitude or slavery as defined by the 1926 Slavery Convention, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956 (the 1956 Supplementary Convention on Slavery) and jurisprudence relating to article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 1. Domestic slavery 28. Domestic slavery, alongside other forms of slavery, still exists in parts of the world, notably in certain countries of the Sahel region of Western Africa. The 1926 Slavery Convention (art. 1) defines slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised”. Slavery still exists in certain sectors of society in Mauritania, even though the Government has outlawed and criminalized the practice (see A/HRC/15/20/Add.2). Women and children in particular end up in domestic slavery. They must work from before sunrise to after sunset, caring for the 7 6 responses to it (Geneva, ILO, 2004), p. III. See also European Court of Human Rights, Siliadin v. France, application no. 73316/01, 26 July 2005, paras. 122 ff. GE.10-15169