The Dominican Republic heads the list of Latin American countries that engage in human trafficking. The International Organization for Migration (OIM) spokesperson, Fanny Polonia, explained to reporters that the DR is also among the world?s top ten countries when it came to trafficking in human beings, sharing the ignomy with Thailand, Nigeria and the Philippines. The specialist points out that in the Dominican scene, apart from prostitution, which is known and identifiable, there is also the abuse of domestics. She pointed out the case of a domestic servant rescued by the OIM in Spain, where she had been sent by an employment agency and where she was not permitted to leave the house in which she lived in inhumane conditions. Forced to use chlorine to clean the floors, her hands became swollen and when the woman of the house realized that her employee was ill, she took her in her car and left her on the roadside with no food or water in the middle of summer. When the police picked the woman up, she did not even know the name of the city where she had been kept. Polonia said that people who are exploited in domestic service are sent to Canada, the United States, Switzerland and Germany, where they are live under constant threats and abuse. Another type of exploitation is the contracting of servile marriages with men and women from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Spain. In these cases, the victims are used for home-delivered prostitution. In the case of male victims of this ploy, they are forced to perform unpaid labor. It is estimated that there are 30,000 Dominican victims of such illegal trafficking.