For
Immediate Release
ILO:
New Landmark Treaty to Protect Domestic Workers
Global Labor Standards for up to 100 Million People Worldwide
(Geneva,
June 16, 2011) – The adoption by the International Labor Organization
(ILO) on June 16, 2011, of a new, groundbreaking treaty to extend key labor
protections to domestic workers will protect millions of people who have been
without guarantees of their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments,
trade unions, and employers' organizations that make up the ILO overwhelmingly
voted to adopt the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which establishes
the first global standards for the estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers
worldwide, the vast majority of whom are women and girls.
ILO members
spent three years developing the convention to address the routine exclusion of
domestic workers from labor protections guaranteed to other workers, such as
weekly days off, limits to hours of work, and a minimum wage. Domestic workers
face a wide range of grave abuses and labor exploitation, including excessive
working hours without rest, non-payment of wages, forced confinement, physical
and sexual abuse, forced labor, and trafficking.
ÒDiscrimination against women and poor legal protections have allowed abuses against
domestic workers to flourish in every corner of the world,Ó said Nisha Varia,
senior womenÕs rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. ÒThis new convention is
a long overdue recognition of housekeepers, nannies, and caregivers as workers
who deserve respect and equal treatment under the law.Ó
Key
elements of the convention require governments to provide domestic workers with
labor protections equivalent to those of other workers, including for working
hours, minimum wage coverage, overtime compensation, daily and weekly rest
periods, social security, and maternity protection. The new standards also
oblige governments to protect domestic workers from violence and abuse, and to
ensure effective monitoring and enforcement.
The negotiations over the past two years have included contentious debates over
such subjects as working hours for live-in domestic workers, in-kind payments
such as housing, and labor inspections in private homes.
Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and the United States played a leading role in
advocating strong protections, as did many other governments from Africa and
Latin America. The European Union registered the most concerns, often
advocating weaker and more flexible provisions.
Swaziland was the only government that did not vote in favor of the convention.
El Salvador, Malaysia, Panama, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Sudan, the Czech
Republic, and Thailand abstained from the vote.
Members
of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
and the United Arab Emirates), along with Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India,
reversed early opposition to a legally binding convention and expressed support
in the latest round of negotiations and final vote.
ÒTodayÕs
vote shows a new consensus that just because domestic work takes place in
private homes is no excuse for governments to abandon their responsibility to
ensure these workersÕ labor rights,Ó said Jo Becker, childrenÕs rights advocate
at Human Rights Watch. ÒAll governments should bring their national laws in
line with this landmark treaty and ratify it as soon as possible.Ó
The ILO says that children make up nearly 30 percent of the world's domestic
workers. Many national child labor laws currently exclude domestic workers, meaning
that children can work for long hours at young ages. Their separation from
their families and near-total dependence on their employers exacerbate their
vulnerability, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch investigations on child domestic workers in El Salvador,
Guinea, Indonesia, Morocco, and Togo have found that some children begin work
as early as age 6 and work up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. One Human
Rights Watch study in Indonesia found that only 1 of 45 child domestic workers
interviewed was attending school. These young workers are also vulnerable to
physical and sexual abuse.
The
convention requires governments to set a minimum age for domestic work and to ensure
that work by child domestic workers above that age does not interfere with their
education. An accompanying recommendation urges governments to limit strictly
the working hours of child domestic workers and to prohibit domestic work that
would harm their health, safety, or morals.
ÒMillions
of girls enter domestic work hoping it will lead to a better life, but instead,
sacrifice their schooling and their future for low wages and long hours,Ó
Becker said. ÒThis convention will give them a real chance to continue their
education and break out of poverty.Ó
Migrants constitute an increasingly large proportion of domestic workers, and their
earnings constitute a significant proportion of the billions of dollars in
remittances sent to developing countries each year. However, migrant domestic
workers are often at heightened risk of exploitation due to national policies that
link workers' immigration status to individual employers as well as excessive
recruitment fees, language barriers, and employersÕ confiscation of passports.
Human Rights Watch investigations across Asia and the Middle East have
documented the failure by many governments to monitor recruitment agencies
that impose heavy debt burdens or misinform migrant domestic workers about
their jobs. Recruitment-related abuses, domestic workersÕ isolation in private
homes, and inadequate labor and immigration laws contribute significantly to
forced labor, trafficking, and domestic servitude. Despite the flows of
millions of domestic workers across borders, international cooperation has been
weak and sporadic.
The new convention contains detailed requirements for governments to regulate
private employment agencies, investigate complaints, and prohibit the practice
of deducting domestic workersÕ salaries to pay recruitment fees. The convention
also stipulates that migrant domestic workers must receive a written contract
that is enforceable in the country of employment and that governments should strengthen
international cooperation.
ÒHouseholds in many countries are increasing their demand for migrant domestic
workers to care for their children and the elderly,Ó Varia said. ÒThese new
standards go a long way to value the important services these workers provide,
and to put systems in place not only to respond to abuses, but prevent them in
the first place.Ó
Of
475 votes cast by governments, workers, and employers, 396 delegates voted for
the convention, 16 voted against, and 63 abstained.
For more information, please contact:
In
Geneva, Nisha Varia (English, Spanish): +33-66-500-1086 (mobile); or varian@hrw.org
In Geneva, Jo Becker (English): +1-914-263-9643 (mobile); or beckerj@hrw.org
In New York, Marianne Mollmann (English, Spanish, Danish): +1-212-216-1285; or mollmam@hrw.org
In New York, Christoph Wilcke (English, German, Arabic): +1-202-247-8379
(mobile); or wilckec@hrw.org
In Beirut, Nadim Houry (English, Arabic, French): +961-1-447-833; or houryn@hrw.org
In Bangkok, Phil Robertson (English, Thai): +66-85-060-8406 (mobile); or robertp@hrw.org
In Paris, Jean-Marie Fardeau (French, English, Portuguese): +33-1-43-59-55-35; or +33-6-45-85-24-87 (mobile)
In Berlin, Wenzel Michalski (English, German): +49-151-419-24256 (mobile); or michalw@hrw.org