Legal Servitude of Migrant Workers

The talk
examines the experience of "legal servitude" for migrant domestic
workers. Across the globe, the legal incorporation of migrant domestic workers
is not that of a free worker but instead of an indentured worker whose legal
status is contingent on their continuous employment to a citizen-sponsor. Only
one country (Italy) grants domestic workers complete freedom to change
employers and in varying degrees other countries including Canada, Taiwan, and
the United Arab Emirates for instance do not. This talk looks at the experience
of legal servitude in order to discuss the issue of human trafficking,
addressing the applicability of the term "modern day slavery" to the
situation of migrant domestic workers and offering an "agent centered
approach" (and not a "victim centered approach") to the problem.
The talk draws from research conducted in Denmark and the United Arab Emirates.