The rights of migrant domestic workers are also violated in diplomatic households. Spectrum of cases reported cases range from less severe labor law infringements over severe forms of labor exploitation to working and living conditions that amount to forced labor and slavery-like practices. While the overwhelming majority of victims are women, mostly employed as domestic helpers, nannies or cooks, there are also cases of male victims, employed as cooks, gardeners or chauffeurs.
When victims are seeking justice, their employers’ diplomatic immunity, acknowledged in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, comes into play, barring as well criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction as the enforcement of judgments in the host state. Insofar, employers’ diplomatic immunity in practice overrules the human rights of the victim and leads to a situation of de facto-unaccountability and –impunity for exploitative employers.
The German Institute for Human Rights carried out the present study to provide an expanded and comprehensive insight into the practice of several European states, to identify examples of promising practice and to develop a comprehensive set of human rights based recommendations to all actors, especially the Protocol departments of Foreign Ministries and non-governmental organizations. The study was conducted as part of the three-year project “Forced Labor Today: Empowering Trafficked Persons”, carried out in cooperation with the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility, Future”.
