Ambassadors and senior diplomats in The Hague are guilty of exploiting and imprisoning their staff. Domestic servants have told Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Dutch daily Trouw their stories of mistreatment. And the abuses are still happening today, according to the organisation Bonded Labour in the Netherlands (BLiN). It’s nothing short of “modern slavery” says lawyer Antoinette Vlieger.

Foreign diplomats in The Hague like to employ domestic help from The Philippines. They do what they’re told and they work hard. The diplomats enjoy immunity – there’s no one to check up on the way they treat their domestic staff.

The grand houses along the coast behind the dunes in The Hague are popular as homes for foreign diplomats and ambassadors. They employ an army of waiters, cleaners, nannies and cooks, often brought in from overseas. One of them was 50-year-old Cheryl Barrio from the Philippines.

Passports confiscated
It’s spring 2003. Cheryl Barrio unpacks her suitcases in the house of the new Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Netherlands. She has already been working for the family in Saudi Arabia. When they arrive in the Netherlands the ambassador says she has to hand over her passport and tells her she’s not allowed to leave the house. A year later he says he needs more domestic staff. He has Cheryl’s daughter Amelia and son Benigno fly over from the Philippines. Their passports are also confiscated, and they’re also forbidden to set foot outside.

The three know what they have to do: get up early, work and sleep. Benigno works as a waiter and odd-job man, Amelia and Cheryl do the cleaning and washing. Sometimes the ambassador’s daughter will bring her jeans to be washed at midnight – she expects them to be clean and ironed ready for her in the morning.

Leftovers
“We so much wanted to see what it was like outside,” says Cheryl. “Every Saturday the ambassador and his wife and children would go out. One time when they drove away we decided to go outside, even if it was only for a couple of minutes. We went into the garden and looked over the fence at the neighbours.”

The ambassador’s family often say how nice it is in the Netherlands and tell Cheryl and her children about all the places they’ve been. But the three servants are never allowed outside, except very occasionally on a brief shopping trip under strict supervision.

Cheryl cooks for the ambassador and his family. The leftovers are for her and her children – she’s not allowed to cook separately. One day, she fried up rice from the day before for herself, but the ambassador’s wife stormed into the kitchen to tell her that reheating food isn’t halal.

Arrest
The ambassador pays his Philippine staff between 200 and 400 dollars (142 to 284 euros) a month – well below the minimum wage in the Netherlands. After deducting pocket money the ambassador sends the money to Cheryl’s husband and five other children in the Philippines.

When Cheryl asks the ambassador for a day off to go out, he tells her it’s too dangerous out on the street. What’s more, he says, the Dutch police would arrest her and send her back to the Philippines.

Thanks to the ambassador’s chauffeur, Cheryl gets hold of a mobile phone. She calls the Philippine embassy in The Hague and tells them about her situation.

“They answered that it wasn’t good for me to go outside, because the Philippine embassy didn’t want any trouble with the Saudis. The Saudis might stop issuing visas to Philippine workers. He told me I should ask the ambassador for more money myself. Of course, that wasn’t realistic.”

Ambassador of the year
Finally Cheryl and her children can’t take it anymore. One morning, when everyone including the guard is still asleep, they leave the house via the cellar, and hail a taxi. The driver takes them to the Zuiderpark in The Hague, because he says they'll be able to find other people from the Philippines there.

“We were so happy that we gave the taxi driver a 5 euro tip! The Filipinos asked if we were new in the Netherlands. I said ‘No, we’re only new to the outside world…’”

The Saudi embassy declines to comment on the story. The ambassador involved was elected Dutch ‘Ambassador of the year’ in 2006. He now works back in Saudi Arabia.

Modern slavery
What happened to Cheryl and her children is simply “modern slavery”, says law researcher Antoinette Vlieger of the University of Amsterdam. The victims are enticed by a good wage and seemingly decent contract. “But once they’ve arrived the contract gets torn up and labour law is ignored.” The servants put up with it because their family back home depend on their earnings. The employers know this only too well, says Ms Vlieger.

“The servants’ visa is also tied to their work for the diplomat. That gives the ambassador power, and this power is increased by his diplomatic immunity. Diplomats stand outside of the legal system, so they think ‘I can get away with anything’.”

This Philippino family are not alone. Radio Netherlands Worldwide and Trouw know of other cases in which diplomats’ private domestic servants have been confined, exploited and psychologically abused. The diplomats come from the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Many servants are too scared to tell their stories.

The names of the Philippine woman and her children have been changed at their request to protect their identity.

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© Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2010

If you work for an embassy or diplomat in The Hague and want to tell us about your working conditions, send an e-mail to . For more information and legal assistance contact Bonded Labour in the Netherlands (BLiN): +31 (0)20 523 11 00