Description of the integration initiative implemented
The main aspects that helped her move out from being a victim to becoming a defender:

- Informal networks that helped her realized that her working conditions were unacceptable and immoral

- Free healthcare provided at the hospital, where we went under in a critical physical situation after running away from her abusive employer

- The information she received by chance - by a neighbor she randomly met in the public transport - about where to seek for help

- The support of the NGO “Committee Again Modern Slavery” (Comité Contre l’Esclavagisme Moderne, CCEM) that has accompanied her all along her journey

- The courses provided by the trade union CFDT that provided her training on labour law issues, and enabled her build a carrier in their structure

- Languages courses given for free at the town hall, that helped her learn to “tell her story” in public

- The mediatization of her case, thanks to the networks provided by the organizations that accompanied her, and to the personal and in-depth of the journalist that investigated on her story

- The recognition she has gained on a national and international level, among political institutions and NGOs, in a context where the issue of human trafficking in work exploitation has become a priority for the United Nations and the European Union

Personal story
Coming from a poor background with four children, Zita Cabais decided to work abroad to support her family. While waiting in line at the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency, she was offered a job to work as a domestic worker in Paris, which resonated to her like a “dream”. Smuggled in Europe illegally, she almost died during her journey to France, where she had to cross frozen rivers in winter, walk for days while barely eating, and sleep in the street.

After finally having arrived in Paris, she was employed as a domestic worker by a bourgeois family that forced her into modern slavery for 4 years. Zita Cabais fought her way out over time, thanks to many people she met on her way. Although she didn’t speak French, she was able to communicate with the concierge of the building where she worked, who warned her that her situation wasn’t normal: “I see you come to work but I never see you leave”. The concierge was also alarming her about her degrading physical situation. As these warnings had started building in her mind, a few actions combined to make her decide to run away. A first turning point occurred when she found in the drawer of her employer her own passport, which according to her employer had been lost. Another turning point occurred when her employer yelled at her because she hadn’t ironed correctly his shirt, and hit her. The third turning point that finally made her decide to leave, was when she learned -- from other filipina domestic workers -- that the kids she took care of would gossip around her at school, saying that she would steal from their home. That affected her deeply, breaking the only emotional link that bounded her to this oppressive and exploitative family.

After having ran away, she met by chance in the public transport a former neighbor she had worked for - giving extras on Sunday -- whom she told her story to in English. This neighbor guided her to the Committee Against Modern Slavery (Comité Contre l’Esclavagisme Moderne, CCEM), which then introduced her to the trade union CFDT it was in partnership with, for cases intermingling human trafficking with to labour issues. From being a victim, Zita Cabais then progressively became a main defender of human rights against human trafficking recognized internationally. For 17 years, she held the important position of general secretary of the SAMSSAP-CFDT. Her workplace became a “permanent school” where she kept learning alongside lawyers and other professionals, while being entrusted with more and more responsibilities to prepare files and defend cases. On an international level, she has been involved since 2010 in several meetings, conferences and trainings organized by the OSCE and the ILO, where she has shared her experience and knowledge as a former victim and defender against human trafficking in forced labor which in a growing problem around the world. She is convinced that "without the voice of the victims, we will not succeed in fighting the phenomenon of human trafficking".

Zita was appointed to the International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council (ISTAC), a program launched by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in 2021. In France, Zita Cabais currently figures at the administrative board of the Committee Against Modern Slavery (CCEM). Having stopped working at the trade union, she has been working in providing assistance to current victims through social media, where she had gained visibility as someone victims can identify easily to seek for help. She has been addressing many unresolved cases, especially concerning diplomatic impunity. She is currently working on building her own association that builds through her long personal and professional experience, which has given her great legitimacy and respect among the filipino community, domestics workers around the world, and human rights defenders.

Analysis of the initiative and individual story
The success of Zita Cabais has shed light on the on-going problem of forced labor that has long remained an underestimated issue of human trafficking (Ricard-Guay & Maroukis, 2017; OSCE, 2011). Through her career and activism, she has emancipated herself from many categories of identity: gender, race, class, age, etc. Concerning gender, she underlines that she has first acted as a “human being” in this struggle that concerns fundamental human rights. Moreover, she has grown critical of gender norms when it comes to domestic work. During the workshops that she leads, Zita Cabais often tells women: "It is affection that kills your rights. Once you have affection, your rights are dead”. Moreover, Zita Cabais has shown how her struggle doesn’t only identify with her “original” filipino community. Having obtained her French nationality, she states that she has grown to know more about France than about the Philippines, since she knows the laws of the French system. Her inclusion in France was thus made possible by her active political participation, oriented towards the marginalized, oppressed and silenced.
Last but not least, while she encourages that her story be used for advocacy, she also stresses out how she is the best person to speak about the issue of human trafficking in forced labor, as her embodied memory guarantees that this story never becomes detached from its lived reality and ongoing injustices calling out for action. This leads us to underline that the individual initiatives that enabled Zita Cabais to move out from modern servitude are not enough to provide a systematic set of good practices to protect domestic workers from human trafficking and forced labor. The situation she primarily encountered of forced labour still remains unregulated: France has still not ratified the ILO Convention n°189 that would protect the rights of domestic workers. The effect is to maintain a status quo where the domestic workers remain dependent on their employer, which can easily turn into a relationship of forced labour (OSCE, 2010). Finally, she has faced numerous cases where diplomatic impunity has protected perpetrators of human trafficking.

Results and Impact
Results:

- Broke out from a victim condition to become a worldwide human rights advocate
- Conviction of her employees, legal redress and media coverage of her case
- Has obtained the French citizenship
- Has gained many recognition and respect
- Self-accomplishment of a life mission

Impacts:
- Repoliticization of the issue of human trafficking through the problem of domestic exploitation
- Increased awareness of the issue of human trafficking in domestic work
- Establishment of an online network to support victims of human trafficking in situations of domestic labor exploitation