Morocco house maid dies from burns

Doctors said that her burns were at least one week old when her employers took her to the hospital.

A Moroccan teenager who worked as a house maid in the coastal resort of Agadir has died after suffering serious burns to her hands and face, an NGO said on Tuesday, adding that her employer is in police custody.

The case "relates to a girl, aged between 15 and 17, who worked as the house maid of a couple and who died on Sunday," said Omar el-Kindi, president of the NGO Insaf, confirming information reported in the press.

A local member of Insaf, which supports women and children in distress, told AFP the girl's employer has been in custody since Monday, pending the result of an autopsy.

Moroccan daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday that the victim was still alive when her two employers took her to hospital on Sunday.

"But the doctors state that the burns were at least one week old."

Last November, Human Rights Watch called on the Moroccan authorities to put an end to the recruitment and exploitation of child domestic workers.

It said girls as young eight were being recruited as house maids, and that they were frequently beaten, verbally abused and sometimes refused adequate food by their employers.