Helping Hands or Shackled Lives: Understanding Child Domestic Labour and Responses to It.

Child domestic labour refers to situations where children perform domestic tasks in the home of a third party or 'employer' under exploitative conditions. This report outlines why child domestic labour, including the worst forms, must be eliminated, and the response of the ILO in both policy and action. It explores in detail the 'push' and 'pull' factors that result in a child's entering domestic service, and explains how such hierarchies are reinforced by growing economic differentials and the spread of urbanization, and how domestic service is increasingly seen as a 'product' that can be purchased by those who have the means to do so.