Published 7 July 2026 · MYCP · Youth Committee on Migration and Displacement Data · Authors: Laura Coburn, Jiyun Lee, Esha Alex, Ambi, Luísa Santi · Editor: Yashiba Sanil, Policy & Operations Manager
Young migrant domestic workers and their children fall through protection gaps that labour, migration and data systems barely see: unregistered births, interrupted schooling, family separation and child labour. This report by the MYCP–UNICEF Youth Committee on Migration and Displacement Data (YCMDD) maps those gaps across South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) and the Asia-Pacific, and sets out 22 recommended actions.
Key findings
Births go unregistered. In one Lebanon study, 63% of children of undocumented migrants were not registered, compared with 10% of children of documented migrants and 0% of Lebanese children (Insan Association, 2014).
Schooling gaps follow. The same study found all Lebanese children in the sample attending school, against 55.2% of children of undocumented migrants and 56.7% of children of documented migrants.
Child domestic work is large-scale. ILO data from 2012 estimated 17.2 million children aged 5–17 in paid or unpaid domestic work in a third party's home, and Asia holds 41% of the world's domestic workers (Aya Myat Thi et al., 2021).
Children work long hours with no rest. Child domestic workers work on average 9 to 15 hours a day with no rest days, and emotional abuse affects more than half of them in some contexts (Aya Myat Thi et al., 2021).
Sponsorship decides children's rights. In Lebanon, migrant domestic workers with children have been detained, denied residency renewal or deported, with childbirth treated as incompatible with domestic work under the sponsorship system (Human Rights Watch, 2017).
"The mother's constrained migration status becomes the child's barrier to documentation, education, healthcare, mobility, and future employment."
Recommendations
Count children and youth in the data. Collect age- and gender-disaggregated data on migrant domestic work, including the birth registration, nationality, residency and schooling of children born to migrant domestic workers, and harmonise methods across origin and destination countries.
Tackle root causes at home. Invest in affordable public childcare and eldercare, and in decent work and skills pathways for young women, so fewer are pushed into precarious migration.
Protect workers along migration corridors. Use bilateral and regional agreements to guarantee fair wages, ethical recruitment and child- and youth-sensitive grievance channels, and to protect mothers from deportation, detention and family separation.
Separate children's rights from sponsorship. A child's birth registration, legal identity, education, healthcare and mobility should never depend on a parent's sponsorship status, including under the kafala system.
Close the labour and social protection gap. Extend full labour protections and social protection to migrant domestic workers, regardless of migration status.
Back migrant-led solutions. Fund grassroots networks, informal childcare and peer support created by migrant workers, and link them into wider care and protection systems.
Address intergenerational impacts. Recognise left-behind children, young workers and children born in destination countries, guarantee their access to education, healthcare and mental health support, and reduce the unpaid care load on girls.
Who this is for
Policymakers in countries of origin and destination, governments negotiating bilateral and regional labour agreements, national statistics offices and data producers, UN agencies, and funders of migrant-led and community organisations.
Coverage: South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) and the Asia-Pacific, with examples from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Cambodia and Thailand. Method: literature and policy review, cross-validated through consultations with regional representatives. Produced by the Youth Committee on Migration and Displacement Data (YCMDD), a joint initiative of MYCP, the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC) and UNICEF, and co-funded by the European Union.
How to cite
Coburn, L., Lee, J., Alex, E., Ambi, & Santi, L. (2026). Migrant domestic work in SWANA and the Asia-Pacific: A child- and youth-sensitive analysis of protection gaps (Y. Sanil, Ed.). Migration Youth and Children Platform (MYCP). https://mycpglobal.org/repository/annual-report-fxfjw
