Domestic servitude

Migrants risk all to cross from Mexico to the US

Migrants risk all to cross from Mexico to the US

Human smuggling is a boom business according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, with the profits in the billions (over $32 billion in 2005). Caritas Internationalis says that while every country has the right to regulate immigration, restrictive measures are simply encouraging people to resort to more dangerous and expensive channels of migration.

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American dream ends in mass graves for migrants heading north

American dream ends in mass graves for migrants heading north

By Fr. Francisco Gallardo, director of the Caritas migrant house at Matamoros, near Mexico’s border with the USA.  People leave their homes in search of the “American dream” but they end up coming to us looking for lodging, clothes and help. Many of them arrive completely exhausted. There are people who’ve been kidnapped and who ...

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The female face of migration

The female face of migration

The Sister* from Caritas Sri Lanka searches for the women migrant workers who’ve returned home abused and traumatised, their dream of saving a nest egg for their families shattered. Chandrangani Gunathilaka’s story is one of the worst the Sister has heard. Chandrangani went to Kuwait as a maid in January 2010, paying agents over $200, ...

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Migration conference in Senegal

Migration conference in Senegal

In Tinzawaten there’s next to nothing to eat or drink, the houses are roofless shells, it’s freezing at night, scorching in the day, murder and rape go unpunished, women are sold as slaves and babies are born in the open. This is the desert of Mali. The people of Tinzawaten are migrants who’ve been deported ...

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Decent work conditions for domestic workers

Decent work conditions for domestic workers

Caritas Internationalis calls on the International Labour Conference (1-17 June, Geneva) to create legal protection for domestic workers by adopting the “Decent work for domestic workers” Convention and Recommendation. Caritas statement to the ILC Caritas has been advocating for legal rights for domestic migrant workers with its “Under one roof, under one law” campaign. Migrant ...

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Migrant domestic workers campaign

Migrant domestic workers campaign

They look after your children, they clean your kitchen and hang your washing but often they are invisible. For many migrant domestic workers around the world the law doesn’t protect them and their rights are trampled underfoot. They are often women and they work long hours for low pay. They have little economic security and ...

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