Domestic Workers Landmark Treaty Comes Into Force – ILO
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: September 2, 2013
WUNRN
ILO – LANDMARK TREATY FOR DOMESTIC
WORKERS COMES INTO FORCE
This
historic ILO Convention gives domestic workers the same rights as other
workers.
05
September 2013 – GENEVA – The International Labour Organization’s Domestic
Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) came into force today, on 5
September 2013, extending basic labour rights to domestic workers around the
globe.
Currently there are at least 53 million domestic workers worldwide, not
including child domestic workers, and this number is increasing steadily in
developed and developing countries.
The number adds to an estimated 10.5
million children worldwide – most of them under age – working as domestic
workers in people’s homes. 83 per cent of domestic workers are women.
_________________________________________________________
DOMESTIC WORKERS TREATY GOES INTO
FORCE
A
groundbreaking global treaty on the rights of domestic workers goes into legal
effect on September 5, 2013, offering vital protections to millions of workers
around the world, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments should promptly
act to ratify and enforce the Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic
Workers (the Domestic Workers Convention), Human Rights Watch said.
The Domestic Workers Convention, No. 189, adopted by International Labour
Organization (ILO) members in 2011, sets standards for the estimated 50 to 100
million domestic workers worldwide – mostly women and girls – who perform
essential household work in private homes. These workers cook, clean, and
provide care for children and the elderly, but in many countries are excluded
from basic labor law protections. Domestic workers face a wide range of human
rights violations, including excessive working hours without rest, non-payment
of wages, forced confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labor, and
trafficking.
“Domestic workers are among the most abused and exploited workers in the
world,” said Gauri van Gulik, women’s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch.
“With the Domestic Workers Convention now coming into effect, millions of women
and girls will have a chance for safer working conditions and better lives.”
Under the treaty, domestic workers are entitled to protections available to
other workers, including weekly days off, limits to hours of work, and minimum
wage and social security coverage. The convention obligates governments to
protect domestic workers from violence and abuse, and to prevent child labor in
domestic work. It also requires governments to ensure that domestic work by
children above the minimum age of employment does not deprive them of
compulsory education or interfere with opportunities to participate in further
education or vocational training.
Since the treaty was adopted in 2011, more than 30 countries have enacted
crucial law reforms to better protect domestic workers, such as limits on
working hours, access to social security and maternity benefits, minimum wage
guarantees, overtime pay, and other basic labor rights.
“Dozens of countries have strengthened labor protections for domestic workers
in recent years,” van Gulik said. “Although these reforms are very encouraging,
we are still a long way from ensuring that all domestic workers enjoy basic
labor rights.”
As of September 2013, 8 countries have led the way by ratifying the Domestic
Workers Convention – Bolivia, Italy, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
Philippines, South Africa, and Uruguay. Others are taking steps towards
ratification. As the treaty enters into force, countries that have ratified are
now bound to implement its obligations.
Human Rights Watch has investigated conditions for domestic workers in over 20
countries around the world, documenting routine exclusions from national labor
law, exploitation, and labor and criminal abuses. Domestic workers who are
children – nearly 30 percent of the total – and migrants are often the most
vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, Human Rights Watch said.
“Many children working in private homes are denied their wages, deprived of
education, and abused and overworked by their employers,” said Jo Becker,
children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments have an
obligation to help these children by ratifying the Domestic Workers
Convention.”
Migrant domestic workers are often at heightened risk of exploitation due to
excessive recruitment fees, language barriers, and national policies that link
workers’ immigration status to individual employers. Human Rights Watch has
documented abuses against migrant domestic workers, including beatings,
confiscation of passports, confinement to the home, overlong working hours with
no days off, and in some cases, months or years of unpaid wages. The Domestic
Workers Convention includes specific provisions to protect migrant domestic
workers, including requirements to regulate private employment agencies,
investigate complaints, and prohibit the practice of deducting from domestic
workers’ salaries to pay recruitment fees.
“Many migrant domestic workers are isolated in private homes, facing heightened
risk of abuse but few legal protections,” van Gulik said. “This treaty can
change lives by helping domestic workers do their jobs in safety and dignity –
and reach help when they are abused.”
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