Trafficking and Forced Labor of Indigenous Women Employed in Domestic Work in Mexico

Trafficking in persons for the means of forced labor is a serious problem that not only violates the labor rights of individuals, but also violates their most basic human rights, especially freedom. In Mexico, forced labor is reflected mainly in the agricultural sector, mostly in the corn and tomato fields, as well as in the coal and silver mining industry (Walk Free Foundation, 2016). Such is the case of day laborers in San Quintín, Baja California where on 16 March they mutinied in a great strike because of the poor working conditions in which they had them. "We all saw it as normal that people were suspended for three or four days or that they dismissed them without compensation for demanding that our rights shall be respected, or for trying to force the bosses to pay for overtime in the days that we had to rest," said Jose Ignacio Garcia, 19 years old and who has been working since he was 12 years old in the fields of the valley of San Quentin" (Animal Politico, 2015). The population sometimes ignores this form of exploitation and in Mexico it has not been recognized as a recurrent problem, much less in domestic work. However, some cases are beginning to draw attention, confirming the existence of forced labor in Mexico and not only in the agricultural and mining sector, but also in domestic work, where victims suffer physical torture, different types of exploitation and the violation of their human rights. Taking into accounts the above discussion, this research explores the modalities and forms of exploitation that indigenous female victims suffer in their employment as domestic workers.