1.0 MIGRATION:
Is movement of people from one country to another for economic or social reasons.
For the objectives of this workshop it is migration from one country to another for the purpose of employment or labour.
Migration is inevitable and it affects everyone in the society without considering education level or social status.
Therefore we domestic workers unions’ representatives from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania main land and Zanzibar, under the support of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) converged the two days’ workshop from 16th November 2023 to 17th November 2023 at Golden Tulip Hotel in Zanzibar. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the challenges facing migrant domestic workers before, during, after migration and return. With an aim of consultations on issue pertaining migrant domestic workers and the need to understand more about safe and fair migration for migrant domestic workers.
Upon further discussions and deliberation the following are common challenges faced by migrant domestic workers from the four (4) countries:
- Existance of unregistered recruitment agents.
- Extortion of migrant domestic workers by agents.
- Contract alteration at the destination countries.
- Torture and sexual harassment by the agents, employers, employers’ relatives. Physical abuse that might lead to death.
- Long working hour with little pay and some times no pay at all/ salary withheld.
- Confiscation of travel and identification documents.
- Language barrier of the migrant domestic workers from the countries of origin.
- Being sued when they are demanding their rights
- Denied treatment when sick and denied social protection/security provision.
Petition to the Governments.
From the challenges mentioned above we hereby petition the governments from the four countries that is Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar on the following;
- To ratify the ILO Convention no. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
- To ensure all recruitment Agents are registered and they work according to rules and regulations in the respective countries. Also to take actions on the agents who violate the provision of the laws.
- To ensure there are bilateral agreements between the countries of origin and countries of destinations and to have monitoring on implementation of the provisions in the agreements especially at the countries of destinations.
- To put in place policies and guidelines that protects migrant domestic workers. Also Governments should involve all the stakeholders during formulation of such policies.
- The governments to ensure all prospective migrant domestic workers undergoes intense pre-departure training on their rights, the work they are going to do, procedures regulations and cultural norms of destinations countries. This is due to the limited time provided for the predeparture trainings as compared to what they are required to know.
- The governments to ensure that have a data base of all migrant domestic workers who travel to work in the countries of destinations in the Gulf countries.
- The Governments to establish centers that will help the returnees to overcome the challenges and trauma they encountered while at the destination countries and help them to integrate with the society.
Thank you.
Attached is our names and signatures from the countries mentioned above.
