A/HRC/4/24/Add.3 page 8 Debt bondage 20. Migrant domestic workers commonly become heavily indebted trying to pay exorbitant, unregulated recruitment-agency fees, which are either paid through long-term salary deductions or by a large fee paid up front to the local recruiter - often financed through loans with high interest rates. In Singapore and Hong Kong, deductions of 8-10 months’ salary on a 2-year contract are common. Most domestic workers pay up front fees by borrowing money from their agent, village moneylenders, family, or friends, often at usurious interest rates. Exorbitant initial fees and long debt repayment periods place migrant workers in a highly vulnerable position. Migrant domestic workers feel enormous pressure to keep working as long as they can in order to repay their debt and start earning a salary, even when faced with intolerable situations. 21. Employment agents similarly have a strong interest in workers remaining in a job until they have repaid their debt, and thus are less likely to help workers out of abusive situations. Sometimes they may be the first to condemn domestic workers to isolation by stripping them of contact information and supporting employer restrictions on their movements and their ability to communicate. Sometimes agents are directly responsible for abuse. Many of the female migrant domestic workers interviewed had experienced severe abuse at the hands of Indonesian employment agents. These abuses included confiscation of passports and/or personal belongings, as well as threats, beatings and other physical abuse. 22. Already in debt, migrant workers typically face further fees and salary deductions if they attempt to transfer to another employer or seek to return to their home country before their employment contract expires. Labour-related abuses 23. NGOs and Indonesian embassies/consulates abroad have reported that unpaid wages, long working hours without rest days and forced confinement at the workplace are among the most common complaints made by female migrant workers. Domestic workers are excluded from the labour laws of most countries, leaving them at particularly high risk of exploitation with few avenues for seeking redress. 24. Several factors contribute to the further isolation of female migrant domestic workers, including financial hardship, limited access to assistance, and the confiscation of passports by the employer and/or the labour agency.11 This last practice in particular creates a strong power imbalance. The denial of freedom of movement dramatically increases the vulnerability of domestic workers to exploitation, forced labour, intimidation and sexual abuse. Employers typically impose severe restrictions on the ability of domestic workers to communicate with the outside world, and are even known to prevent domestic workers from talking to neighbours or 11 Ibid., for more information, see the Human Rights Watch series of reports on Indonesian domestic workers available at http://hrw.org/campaigns/women/2006/domestic_workers/ reports.htm.