In the 3rd world the girls particularly those out of school, continue to pay a high price because of their lack of education for their social status and their economic asset. With no academic qualifications most of them turns to cheap labour. Among them are domestic workers. With no contract getting pitiful salary these girls are subjected to various exploitation and abuse.In 2009, ADBEF conducted a survey on domestic workers on their activities, their problems, their hope, their level of knowledge about HIV AIDS and on domestic violence and sexual abuse. The research was titled “Life conditions, knowledge on HIV AIDS of domestic workers and sexual violence done towards them”. According to our survey results, domestic workers face a very serious and wide range of abuses and are systematically exploited at work. The main abuses that they suffer include:
- Physical abuses,
- Psychological and sexual abuses,
- Dismissal without notice and without being paid.
- Low salary,
- Denial of food and medical care,
- Exploitation of domestic workers: hours of work too long without few hours for rest and so on.
- No job contract
The majority of domestic workers are female (83%), and the results showed us that many of them are still children among domestic workers (48%) of people interviewed. Because of this phenomenon of abuse of young Rwandans doing domestic work, it is essential to awaken the conscience of everyone to protect this category of domestic workers, and fight for the rights of children so vulnerable. It is the matter of survival. The summary of this survey is in Abstract of The Rwanda National AIDS Control Commission (CNLS), in collaboration with Ministry of Health of Rwanda: « ABSTRACT » 5th NATIONAL PAEDIATRIC CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN INFECTED AND AFFECTED BY HIV 16th-18th November 2009, at 17th page.
