GLOBAL FACTS AND FIGURES IN BRIEF
Throughout the world, thousands of children are working as domestic helpers, performing tasks such as cleaning, ironing, cooking, minding children and gardening. In many countries this phenomenon is not only socially and culturally accepted but might be regarded positively as a protected and non-stigmatised type of work, and therefore preferable to other forms of work, especially for the girl-child. The perpetuation of traditional female roles and responsibilities within and outside the household, and the perception of domestic service as part of a woman’s apprenticeship for adulthood and marriage, also contribute to the low recognition of domestic work as a form of economic activity, and of child domestic labour as a form of child labour.
Ignorance of, or disregard for the risks children might be exposed to in this kind of work is an alarming reality in many parts of the world. It is also one of the reasons for the widespread institutional reluctance to address the issue with specific policies and laws and why the issue has only recently come to the forefront of the international debate as potentially one of the most widespread “worst forms of child labour”.
Given its hidden nature, it is impossible to have reliable figures on how many children are globally exploited as domestic workers. According to the ILO, though, more girl-children under 16 are in domestic service than in any other category of child labour. Available statistics mostly based on local research and surveys, and certainly only the tip of the iceberg, provide for an alarming indication of the extent of the phenomenon worldwide. Recent IPEC rapid assessments conducted in Asia, Africa and Latin America confirm the overwhelming extent and gravity of this problem.
According to recent reports, for example, some 175,000 children under 18 are employed in domestic service in Central America, more than 688,000 in Indonesia alone, 53,942 under-15 in South Africa and 38,000 children between 5 and 7 in Guatemala.
The root causes of child domestic labour are multiple and multi-faceted. Poverty and its feminisation, social exclusion, lack of education, gender and ethnic discrimination, domestic violence, displacement, rural-urban migration and loss of parents due to conflicts and diseases, are just some of the multiple “push factors” for child domestic workers worldwide. Increasing social and economic disparities, debt bondage, the perception that the employer is simply an extended “family” and protected environment for the child, the increasing need for the women of the household to have a “replacement” at home that will enable more and more of them to enter the labour market, and the illusion that domestic service gives the child worker an opportunity for education, are some of its “pull factors”.
The hazards linked to this practice are a matter of serious concern. The ILO has identified a number of hazards to which domestic workers are particularly vulnerable and the reason it may be considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour. Some of the most common risks children face in domestic service are:
- long and tiring working days;
- use of toxic chemicals;
- carrying heavy loads;
- handling dangerous items, such as knives, axes and hot pans;
- insufficient or inadequate food and accommodation, and
- humiliating or degrading treatment, including physical and verbal violence, and sexual abuse.
These hazards need to be seen in association with the denial of fundamental rights of the children such as, for example, access to education and health care, the right to rest, leisure, play and recreation and the right to be cared for and to have regular contact with their parents and peers (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). These factors can have an irreversible physical, psychological and moral impact on the development, health and well-being of the child.
Given the complexity of its root causes and impact, any effort to adequately and efficiently address child domestic labour must therefore be of a multidisciplinary, multi-faceted and integrated nature, and linked to the broader context of poverty reduction, elimination and prevention of the worst forms of child labour and promotion and enforcement of fundamental labour and human rights.
THE ILO RESPONSE: KEY INSTRUMENTS AND MAIN ACTIONS
From an international law perspective, children who have reached the minimum working age in their country but are below 18 and are “legitimately” involved in domestic service are entitled to the rights guaranteed both by labour laws and standards, and by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. When they are working under exploitative conditions or are under the legal minimum working age they are recognised as child domestic workers, and in some cases they are considered to be in one of the worst forms of child labour, against which specific instruments and provisions have been adopted. As noted above, given its hidden nature and the characteristics of the employment relationship it is very difficult to draw the line between “legitimate domestic work” and its exploitative forms. In fact, evidence shows that in most countries children involved in domestic service are largely involved in what has been previously defined as “child domestic labour”.
Since the early 1930s, the ILO has been able to address the situation of child domestic labour in its most severe forms through its Forced Labour Convention (No.29) that addressed forced and compulsory labour for both children and adults.
With the adoption of the Minimum Age Convention (No.138) in 1973 and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No.182) in 1999, the Organisation has two fundamental international instruments to frame its policy and action response. The implementation of these Conventions is a key starting point to target child domestic labour and eradicate its worst forms. Under these Conventions governments are called on to commit to action and implement specific measures to eliminate child labour. Monitoring and follow up mechanisms are also in place to evaluate a country’s compliance to its international obligations as enumerated in the Conventions. Such mechanisms include periodic reports by Governments, reports to the Committee of Experts by workers and employer’s organisations, and the revision of individual cases by the annual International Labour Conference.
Convention No.138 requires the adoption of national policies for the effective abolition of child labour and a specific minimum age for the admission to employment. The enforcement of this Convention, particularly as far as domestic labour is concerned, is the main challenge since this sector is often excluded from the coverage of the Convention and from national labour laws.
Although it does not explicitly define child domestic labour as a worst form of child labour, Convention No.182, ratified by 163 countries as of 2006, includes a number of important provisions that are applicable to it. It calls on governments to implement effective time-bound measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, undertake action programmes to prevent it, promote and support reintegration of child workers into their communities and families, provide access to free education, identify children at special risk with a view to protecting them and, particularly relevant for child domestic labour, it gives special attention to the vulnerabilities of the girl-child.
Both Conventions encourage countries to compile a list of hazardous child labour and many countries have included domestic labour in the list.
The ILO, through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), works in support of government efforts to fulfil international commitments under these Conventions. It encourages countries to adopt a set of strategies at the national level that aim at creating an enabling environment to eliminate child labour and at withdrawing and preventing children from being engaged in it. The Time-Bound Programme (TBP) approach is one means of implementing this. It comprises a set of integrated and coordinated policies and interventions with clear goals, specific targets and a defined time frame, aimed at preventing and eliminating a country’s worst forms of child labour.
Many Time-Bound Programmes specifically include among their priorities the eradication of child domestic labour. Their prevention, protection and rehabilitation components include: developing and sharing knowledge, filling identified gaps, ensuring law enforcement; mainstreaming child labour concerns in national development agendas and policy documents, such as national plans of action and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), and raising public awareness through advocacy campaigns.
Recognising the complexity of the issue and the long-term nature of policy interventions at national level, IPEC has been also working at local level on targeted direct action aimed at progressively preventing and eliminating child domestic labour. Since 2001, it has implemented a number of technical cooperation projects on child domestic labour. These projects have been carried out all over the world (From 2001 to 2006, IPEC has implemented project in: Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka); Africa (Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia); and the Americas (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama; Paraguay and Peru); and have made significant contributions to addressing the problem. The intervention strategies and objectives of these projects vary according to the age of the children: if the child is below the legal minimum working age, the objective is immediate removal from this exploitative situation and reintegration into the family, educational system and community. If the child is above the legal minimum working age, the objective is to ensure his or her protection by ensuring that s/he is not working under hazardous conditions and that s/he enjoys her/his rights as a worker and a child.
Direct action projects have included a wide range of interventions, such as: expanding the knowledge-base on the subject; awareness-raising and capacity building of social partners to improve their response; technical assistance to develop and adopt national legislation and enforcement mechanisms; support to the educational system to offer more and better educational opportunities to children and youth involved in domestic service, and assistance to such children in the form of reintegration and rehabilitation services.
Child domestic labour information resources
The information resources in this section aims at facilitating access to the materials on child domestic labour produced by IPEC in various parts of the world as part of its global efforts to prevent and eliminate child labour and its worst forms. Far from exhaustive, the list of publications and audiovisual material has been divided into 6 broad categories:
- Key documents;
- Rapid assessments, national and regional reports;
- Reviews of international and national legislation;
- Good practices and lessons learned;
- Awareness-raising materials, and
- Training materials
Under each category, materials have been organised by country or region, or by theme, and are briefly described to guide the reader.
