Domestic worker rights video gets a staggering 15 million views in just one week

[Press Release]

Bangkok, Thailand — The International Organization for Migration (IOM - UN Migration Agency) and the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) video Open Doors: Singapore has become an overnight sensation in Asia. The video, aimed at preventing the exploitation of domestic workers, was viewed more than 15 million times over the past week.

Produced by IOM and USAID's innovative counter-trafficking campaign, IOM X, and in partnership with ASEAN and UN Women, Open Doors: Singapore tells the gripping story of a young Filipina domestic worker who finds herself being mistreated by her employer. The video carries a message to employers of domestic workers that a positive relationship with their domestic worker, based on trust and communication, helps create a happy home.

Open Doors: Singapore is generating a strong, emotional response on Facebook: More than 300,000 people have 'reacted' to the video, 400,000 have shared it to their own walls and 13,000 people have left comments.

"Thank you for producing this video and sharing it. It makes me [see] from another perspective and [with] more understanding. Even though I’m just a teenager, I’ll grow older and help others,” wrote one Facebook user.

The seven-minute video, in English, premiered in Jakarta in May 2016. Recently, the video appeared on Viddsee, an online video service specializing in the dissemination of short films from Asia. It resonated with a Filipino Facebook user, who then posted it to their own wall on 28 January 2017, where it went viral.

“I cried and [was] touched because I appreciate the behaviour of the Filipina domestic [worker]. Hopefully many employers will watch this video and be an example to others,” said another Facebook user.

Open Doors is a three-part video series, each featuring the struggles of migrant domestic workers in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

View videos: Open Doors: Singapore, Open Doors: Malaysia and Open Doors: Thailand.

Of the estimated 52 million domestic workers worldwide, 41 per cent are from Asia Pacific. It is estimated that 1.9 million of the domestic workers from Asia Pacific are being exploited. Live-in domestic workers who have experienced exploitation have reported low pay or no pay at all, excessive working hours (such as being on call for 24 hours a day), no weekly day off, living in poor and unsafe conditions, inflated agency fees, debt-bondage, forced labour and forced confinement.

To view the videos and learn more about the exploitation of domestic workers in the ASEAN region, please visit IOMX.org/HappyHome