E/CN.4/2001/83/Add.1 page 18 changing employers during the 24 months required in order to apply for permanent residence. The Special Rapporteur told the NGO representatives that they should listen to the caregivers themselves, for many of whom living in their employer’s home was an advantage. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur encouraged them to read carefully the information on the programme distributed by the CIC, where the rights relating to that type of work were spelled out. After she had asked the CIC for clarification regarding the question of changing employers, the Special Rapporteur found that in practice there was no such requirement and that the programme clearly established the possibility of such a change. The Special Rapporteur advised the NGO representatives working with this group to pay careful attention to the views of the caregivers themselves. It was decent work and for many workers living in their employer’s home was an advantage. Nevertheless, she felt that the two questions had to be considered separately: on the one hand, decent work in perfectly legal conditions with proper working hours, and on the other hand, complaints of working conditions amounting to servitude and employers’ abuses. 66. The Special Rapporteur interviewed several caregivers from the Philippines. She was told in particular about the terrible exploitation experienced by one caregiver. The specific case did not originate in Canada, although the story of years of abuse finally ended there when the employer was transferred for professional reasons and brought her caregiver with her. The latter said she had emigrated from the Philippines to work in the home of her employer. When she had arrived in Geneva (Switzerland), where the employer worked, she found that her wages were only 100 Swiss francs a month, that she was only allowed to leave the place of residence in order to collect the employer’s two children from school and that she was not allowed to use the telephone. According to the caregiver, that situation had lasted three years, until her employer was transferred to Canada, taking her with her. The caregiver said that, once she was in Canada, she began to suffer physical ill-treatment. One day she decided to escape from the place of residence and go to the police. As the current report was being completed, this domestic worker was awaiting a decision regarding her case. 67. Another of the concerns the Special Rapporteur was told about referred to the 24 months of work required before permanent residence could be applied for. She interviewed several live-in caregivers in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, who, because they had become pregnant, had been unable to complete the required period of work. In the copy of the programme handed to the Special Rapporteur by the CIC, it was stated that female workers were entitled by law to maternity leave. The Special Rapporteur believes that it is important to ensure that employers comply with the terms of the law in order to avoid the type of situation where employees are unable to complete the 24 months of work. In many cases the caregivers said that they had been ordered to leave the country despite the fact that their child was a Canadian citizen, born on Canadian territory. They all complained at Canada’s violation of international obligations and in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Canada is a party. Most of the complaints also alleged a lack of health-care assistance, despite the fact that their children were Canadians. According to what they told the Special Rapporteur, medical facilities in health-care establishments were related to the immigrant status of the parents. In many cases described to the Special Rapporteur, the claimants were still awaiting a decision on their status. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur, most of the cases occurred in the Ontario region.