“No le des la espalda” (don´t turn your back on me): Household workers may also be victims of human trafficking

CHS Alternativo’s campaign seeks to inform and sensitize the public about the victims of trafficking in persons for the purpose of labour exploitation as domestic workers.

The problem

Trafficking in persons in Peru is a crime that can be punished with up to 35 years in prison and it is up to us to recognize its forms. One of these is the service of trafficking in persons in domestic work and can be expressed with some or several of the following characteristics: victims live threatened, suffer physical and psychological abuse by employers, who retain their personal documents and prohibit contact with family or friends and confinement, which may involve some control device (security, lock, key) or some kind of coercion that does not allow the worker to leave the place where he or she is.

In 2016, only 9 reports of trafficking in persons for the purpose of labour exploitation were recorded in the National Police’s System for the Registration and Statistics of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons and Related Matters (RETA), without specifying how many correspond to domestic work. This could reflect, on the one hand, the need to inform and sensitize the population about this crime in order to motivate the denunciation of these cases. But, on the other hand, it could show the lack of involvement of the population or normalization in the face of the violation of fundamental rights of individuals.

The campaign

In response to this situation, the NGO CHS Alternativo launched the campaign “Do Not Give Your Back”, which aims to inform and raise awareness among those seeking to hire a domestic worker and the population in general, so that they can identify the signs of crime and report these cases through the line 1818 option 1 of the Ministry of Interior. The audiovisual spot of the campaign was launched on August 18, 2017 on Facebook, which reached more than 100,000 reproductions and more than 1,000 shared.

The campaign also includes the broadcasting of spots on regional radio stations in Cusco, Iquitos and Madre de Dios, which are considered regions with high levels of reports of human trafficking, seeking to alert parents, minors and the general population about this crime, and the broadcasting of visual material that seeks to inform about ways of recruiting victims of human trafficking.

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In addition, in order to bring the problem closer to the population, the campaign has been carrying out activations inside public transport vehicles that circulate along Abancay Avenue, which consist of the narration of a story about domestic work in the condition of trafficking in persons in charge of theatre actors. These activities will continue until Monday, August 28 and it is expected to reach an average of 4,000 people.