Country Report: France

France confronts an emerging pattern of domestic slavery.

A Victim's Story

When Safia Kharun arrived in Paris from Somalia, via Djibouti, she was in her teens. Expecting a world of modern culture and freedom, she instead endured four years of bondage under a cruel mistress. After several failed attempts, she managed to escape and was discovered on the pavement by police, her face bleeding. Hospital tests revealed bruises, malnourishment, and tuberculosis. Safia is now recovering, living in a hostel and going to a special treatment center where she learns French and dressmaking. But she remains lonely, with few friends in France and no family left in Somalia. Every night, she has the same nightmare, "I see the mistress at my bedroom window. She is beating me. I wake with a start and vow: 'Lord God, deliver me from the demon!'"

Safia was one of the roughly 3,000 household slaves in Paris today. Trafficked into France from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, slaves are held throughout the country. Masters force them to work long hours with no days off, locked inside houses and apartments. Many will never see home again.

Country Background

An international center of culture and sophistication, France is among the largest European countries with approximately 60 million inhabitants. The democratic government combines a socialist attitude with contemporary capitalism. Despite its reputation for "liberty, equality, and brotherhood," France had a legal slave trade until the mid-19th century (black emancipation occurred in 1848). Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, French colonies around the world condoned and sometimes even depended upon systems of slavery.

Causes of Slavery

The "new slavery" in France takes on a different form from the "old slavery." Household and child-care expenses, especially in Paris proper, have grown rapidly, raising the demand for live-in help. Some slaveholders legitimate their actions by citing the ordinarily high labor costs of child-care professionals. Moreover, because many masters are originally from countries where slavery is more culturally accepted, they have imported the practice to France. As with the growing problem of involuntary servitude in the United States, human bondage in France is difficult to both detect and prosecute. The French public remain largely unaware of the problem, and many cases occur behind closed doors.

The Process of Enslavement

Domestic slaves typically arrive in France in two different ways. Some come with their masters from countries where slavery has never entirely disappeared, as masters import native practices of exploitation when they settle in France. Others in bondage have been lured from their families by recruiters. These "middlemen" promise poor parents that their teenage child will receive schooling or a well-paying job upon arrival in France. Enslaved individuals are forced to care for the master's home, often working 18 hours a day, seven days a week. Tasks include child-care, cleaning, and cooking.

In many cases, masters obtain slaves through recruiting agents, who make high profits by luring foreigners to France at little cost. In some cases, international diplomats have been documented as slaveholders. These slaveholders receive diplomatic immunity, and even if discovered can often escape prosecution. For these diplomats, immunity means impunity.

Slaves who do not escape from their masters work until they are no longer useful. Their condition often depends upon their general treatment: working hours, level of nourishment, and amount physical violence. Since paying for slaves to return to their homelands is both costly and risky, most masters simply discard their slaves, leaving them to fend for themselves on Paris's streets. Lacking language skills, friends, and money to survive, ex-slaves find this sort of "emancipation" rarely results in freedom from brutality. Most victims suffer from physical and psychological trauma, requiring hospitalization and counseling before they can begin to recover.

Response on the Ground

In 1996, the Paris-based Committee Against Modern Slavery established itself as the leading service provider for French victims of slavery. They advocate for victims and provide both legal and welfare services to survivors.

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