Statement of Migrante Int'l on the Committee Adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers

The Struggle Continues

Statement on the Adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers by the Committee on Domestic Workers

June 12, 2011

MIGRANTE International welcomes the adoption of the ILO Convention on Domestic Work by the Committee on Domestic Workers which recognizes domestic work as work and bestows upon domestic workers equal rights and recognition as other workers. Indeed, this is a milestone - a product of long years of hard-fought struggle to secure the rights of domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers which MIGRANTE International has actively supported and campaigned for through its chapter organizations in the Philippines and abroad.

For so long, domestic workers have been denied equal rights and recognition while facing harsh conditions at work and in society. They are most vulnerable to abuse and often mistreated by employers. Many are beaten and raped, and many are murdered. They are lowly-paid and do not enjoy social protection, isolated and discriminated against and without legal recourse because their work is not considered as work and not covered by any existing legal frameworks. Worse, their marginalization is implicitly condoned by the State as the principal agent peddling domestic workers like ordinary commodities without guarantee of protection or avenues for redress of grievance.

However, while the adoption of the of the ILO Convention on Domestic Work by the Committee on Domestic Workers is a momentous event, one must not lose sight of the fact that this is just a small opening and that the struggle to attain equal rights and protection for domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers, is still a long way to go.

MIGRANTE International believes that the bigger challenge is how to push States to institute national legal frameworks to enforce the provisions of the Convention granting that it will be passed in toto by the International Labour Convention (ILC) come June 15-16, 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland. As history would tell, there may be not too many but powerful opposition to the proposed Domestic Workers (DW) Convention who will try hardest to vote down the DW Convention in order to preserve the status quo. This should not happen, but it could most likely happen as the trend in most domestic worker-dependent countries today clamps down on migrant workers’ rights instead of promoting equal rights and protection for all.

Only time will tell if this “landmark” decision will help alleviate the plight of domestic workers, including migrant domestic workers. As the global alliance of progressive organizations of migrant Filipinos, MIGRANTE International shall remain at the frontline of the struggle for the rights and welfare of domestic workers and their fight for justice and the total eradication of modern-day slavery victimizing migrant workers around the world.