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Protecting Migrant Domestic Workers: The international legal framework
112912282377538Protecting Migrant Domestic Workers: The international legal frameworkhttps://idwfed.org/en/resources/protecting-migrant-domestic-workers-the-international-legal-framework
Global Action Programme on Migrant Domestic Workers - Research series in support of June 2016 project report release. Based on a report elaborated by Elisa Menegatti.
Resource Type
Research reports, working paper
Details
Summary
Worldwide, an estimated 67 million people over the age of 15 are domestic workers. Of those, 83 per cent are women. Among the world’s domestic workers, many millions have migrated from their homes to another country for work.
Due to the fact that domestic work is carried out in the employer’s house and to the nature of the tasks performed, it is often associated with women’s unpaid work. Most domestic work remains informal, performed outside of labour and social protection regulations. Non-compliance is decreasing but still high. Domestic work remains one of the least protected sectors under national labour laws and it suffers from particularly poor monitoring and implementation of existing laws.
Migrant domestic workers (MDWs) are even less protected by the law. Migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to human rights abuses, due to inequalities determined by gender, race, ethnicity, national origin and social status. Non-payment or retention of wages, long working hours, contract substitutions, passport retentions, violations of human dignity and fundamental freedoms, degrading treatment and violence, forced labour and trafficking for labour exploitation in the worst cases, are common violations suffered by these workers. The situation is critical particularly for MDWs with irregular or undocumented migration status or those who live and work in the household of the employer.
MDWs (especially if they are “live-in workers”) can face specific language and cultural barriers to access information on the legislation and socio-cultural characteristics of the country of destination.
They tend to be isolated from other employees and service providers, they often have limited access to communication devices, like mobile phones or Internet to communicate with their families, and are restricted in their freedom of movement.
Migrant domestic workers are at the crossroads of two sovereign countries, which often have different or even divergent interests and regulatory frameworks with regard to domestic workers and migrant workers.
Private recruitment agencies’ role in the migration process has significantly grown in the past decade. Lack of appropriate regulation and supervision has led to increasing reports of exploitation and abuses of migrant domestic workers. Abusive practices include: deception regarding conditions of work, charging unauthorized fees to workers, and retention of identity documents, perpetrated by unscrupulous recruitment agencies and informal intermediaries operating outside of legal and regulatory frameworks.