Young women from the Philippines working as housemaids in Morocco have described being exploited, physically abused and raped by their employers in the north African kingdom.
"I was confined in the house of this woman, who confiscated my passport. To get it back, she told me that I had to give her US$4,000," Analissa Dalambines, a young Filipino, told a press conference in Rabat.
"I'm ready to give up the job that I've done for two and a half years and return to my country," she said, before shouting, with tears in her eyes: "My employer raped me."
"When I arrived in Morocco, I was hired by a woman who beat me regularly," another woman told the conference, convened by the Democratic Organisation of Labour (OTD), weeping as she spoke.
The honorary consul for the Philippines, Porto Joselito, said about 3,000 young Philippine housemaids worked in Morocco.
"Most of them are victims of poor treatment and exploitation, including sexual exploitation," he said.