Domestic Workers Victory – ILO Convention – HRW Campaign
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: June 6, 2011
WUNRN
Human Rights Watch
VICTORY FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS – ILO
CONVENTION – HRW CAMPAIGN
A group of Indonesian migrant workers protest
ahead of Woman International Day in
1999 Reuters
June 23, 2011 – Three years ago, when the
International Labor Organization (ILO) decided to consider new international
standards on domestic work, we began a global advocacy campaign. We of
Human Rights Watch sent hundreds of letters to government labor ministers and
met with dozens of government officials. We produced an educational video and a
photo brochure with our main findings and recommendations, and held public
educational events in
Hague
ILO agreed to create a legally binding convention.
Domestic workers — nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers — are some of
the most exploited workers in the world. But a new international treaty has
been adopted to help protect them, thanks in part to 10 years of Human Rights
Watch research and advocacy. The treaty is the first of its kind.
The 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide often face a range of
abuses, from long working hours with no days off to sexual harassment or
violence from their employers. Many work for months without getting paid, or
are not paid at all.
This landmark treaty gives these workers the dignity they are due and the
same rights other workers have under the law. This includes earning a minimum
wage, a weekly day off, and limits to their working hours. It also obliges
governments to protect them from violence and to monitor and enforce these
provisions.
About 30 percent of domestic workers are girls, some of whom start working
between ages 6 and 8, leaving them especially susceptible to abuse. Workers who
have migrated from other countries also run a high risk of experiencing
violence. The treaty addresses the vulnerabilities of both groups.
When we began investigating abuses of domestic workers throughout the world
10 years ago, almost no one was paying attention to the issue. Our research and
advocacy, along with a growing domestic workers’ rights movement, helped build
widespread recognition of the problem.
We conducted investigations into the abuse of domestic workers in more than 15
countries. While investigating child domestic workers in
Salvador
we found that some children start working at age 6 and work up to 16 hours a
day, seven days a week. In
we found that only 1 of 45 child domestic workers interviewed was attending
school.
In
Arabia
we found that on any given day foreign embassies often doubled as shelters for
abused domestic workers filing complaints or trying to return to their
homelands.
And in
we uncovered a grim death toll. Domestic workers, all of them migrants, were
dying at a rate of more than one a week — generally from suicide or botched
escape attempts from tall apartment buildings.
We have pressured governments to improve protections for migrant women,
with some success.
Lanka
recruitment agencies and provide more services to domestic workers such as
pre-departure training, assistance resolving labor disputes, and legal aid for
criminal court cases.
issued a new Child Code, which ensures better legal protection for child
workers.
the
are all considering reforms either by offering new laws on domestic work
or amending existing labor codes.
has issued new regulations for employment and recruitment agencies, and
introduced a mandatory standard contract with provisions like a weekly day off.
But this was clearly a global problem, and we needed a global solution.
Three years ago, when the International Labor Organization (ILO) decided to
consider new international standards on domestic work, we began a global
advocacy campaign. We sent hundreds of letters to government labor
ministers and met with dozens of government officials. We produced an
educational video and a photo brochure with our main findings and
recommendations, and held public educational events in
and
the treaty.
Last year, the ILO agreed to create a legally binding convention, to be
ratified by countries that agree to be parties to it – to strengthen and
enforce laws protecting domestic workers. We were closely involved in every
step of the treaty negotiations, and we especially pushed for specific
protections for migrant and child domestic workers, as their situations are
particularly precarious.
We coordinated with workers’ groups and briefed diplomats and employer
groups, encouraging them to support the convention and key provisions. We
engaged in heated debates over its content, such as the regulation of private
employment agencies and the right of child domestic workers to education.
Governments told us that they used our materials to brief their own labor
ministries and that they relied on our recommendations to propose amendments
during the negotiations.
Of 475 votes cast by governments, workers, and employers, 396 delegates
voted for the convention, 63 abstained, and only 16 voted against it. In addition
to extending basic labor rights to all domestic workers, the treaty requires
governments to set a minimum age for domestic work and to provide girls with
access to education, along with other protections. To protect migrant workers,
the treaty requires governments to regulate employment recruitment and to
investigate abuse complaints.
Human Rights Watch will press governments to ratify this landmark
treaty as soon as possible and to bring their national laws in line with it.
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