UN strengthens protection for migrant domestic workers

A high-level United Nations (UN) body has adopted a jurisprudence on the rights of migrant domestic workers worldwide and recognized recommendations for the protection of these workers.

On December 2 (Geneva time), the UN Committee on Migrant Workers voted to adopt the proposed jurisprudence or guidance in the form of a general Comment, which interprets the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

The 1990 convention is one of the nine core international treaties on human rights.

It has so far been ratified by 44 countries, including the Philippines, where many domestic workers around the world come from.

In a press release, the Geneva-based International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) hailed the development, saying the adoption of the guidance is “extremely important” as more cases of abuse, especially of women and child domestic workers, are being reported.

“Our members around the world, and particularly in Asia and the Gulf countries, have long been concerned about the suffering of these workers,” said Johan Ketelers, secretary general of the ICMC which has operated safe houses and shelters in Asia, the Middle East and Europe for domestic workers in distress.

“The fact that this guidance deepens application of one of the core international human rights treaties is extremely important, and we welcome it,” he said.

“The new guidance is also relevant to the adoption by the International Labour Organization (ILL) of a separate international rights convention pertaining to all domestic workers, which is expected in June 2011,” he added.

Rights violated across cultures

The ICMC explained the guidance is “evidence-based,” drawing from the research focusing on the experience of some 75 countries.

ICMC conducted the research along with other organizations such as the:
# Caritas Internationalis;
# Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and
# International NGO Platform on the Migrant Workers Convention.

“We were struck at how commonly the rights of migrant domestic workers are violated, cross-cutting borders, cultures and all regions,” said Abdelhamid El Jamri, chairperson of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers in the press statement.

“The new guidance addresses abuse that is worldwide, rights that are universal, and practical recommendations that have global application. There is no cultural exception to the obligation to respect basic human rights,” he added.

Domestic helpers from PHL

Household service work has been the top occupational category for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the past years.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration show the country has deployed almost half a million new-hire domestic helpers from 2003 to 2009, to such countries as Hong Kong, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In an article on its website, the ILO describes domestic work as full- or part-time wage workers for one or more employers doing such tasks as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children, the elderly, the disabled, and even domestic animals.

The group also said these workers may be self-employed and with substantial control over the terms of their work, or they may provide services in individual homes whil being paid by licensed institutions.

The ILO further estimates that domestic work comprises a significant proportion of the workforce, ranging between 4 and 10 percent of total employment in developing countries, and up to 2.5 percent of total employment in industrialized countries.

The ICMC said almost every country in the world excludes domestic work from its national labor laws.

The groups estimate that more than half of all the domestic workers in many countries are migrants. – VVP, GMANews.TV