E/CN.4/2004/76 page 9 oversee the activities of the recruiting bodies. They also establish the obligation to require a written contract between the employer and the migrant worker. The ILO Conventions, however, do not cover the situation of temporary migrants, in which category several countries place migrant domestic workers. C. Current situation and practices observed 25. The Special Rapporteur has received information on cases of migrant domestic workers who have died or disappeared. These workers are frequently the victims of physical or psychological violence on the part of employers, other family members or the staff of the recruiting agency. Cases of women who have been hit and beaten have been brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention. 26. It frequently happens that migrant domestic workers arriving in the country of destination do not know the language and encounter serious difficulties in communicating with their employers. Sometimes their inability to communicate is taken by their employers as a sign of incompetence and contributes to the arousal of tensions and conflicts. Migrant domestic workers are frequently the victims of racism and xenophobia and of verbal abuse by all members of the family, including the children, who call them insulting names. Psychologically, this has serious consequences for migrant domestic workers. 27. Many female migrant domestic workers end up being sexually abused by the employer, his children or family members, or by other domestic workers living in the same house.9 Many are obliged to remain in the rapist’s house and are repeatedly sexually violated. Some women have said that they did not dare to speak of the violence even to the rapist’s wife or mother for fear of not being believed or in case they might be angry with them. There are also reports of large numbers of suicides among female migrant domestic workers, who frequently suffer from depression. 28. Migrant domestic workers’ right to privacy is often violated; their correspondence is opened, their telephone calls are monitored, their rooms are searched. The invasion of their privacy is a form of harassment that violates their dignity and strengthens the perception of inferiority and lack of respect. All these abuses strengthen the dominant/submissive relationship between employer and the migrant domestic worker. 29. The Special Rapporteur has received information about cases where employers have manufactured evidence against female migrant domestic workers, accusing them of theft and other crimes merely so as not to have to pay for their travel home at the end of their contracts. When these women are charged, they are very often not assisted by lawyers or interpreters during the trial and it is very difficult for them to be able to defend themselves, particularly if they have no support from their consulates.10 The Special Rapporteur has observed many instances in which the consulate offered no assistance to its nationals or collaboration with the migration authorities.