All news: domestic workers

Media Advisory

Media Advisory: Technical Meeting to Discuss Draft Law for Domestic Workers in Jordan

The Jordanian government and the ILO are meeting to review Jordan’s new draft domestic worker law, with the aim of better reflecting the principles of Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Domestic workers

Ireland ratifies the Domestic Workers Convention

Ireland is the 15th ILO member State and the third EU member State to ratify this instrument which seeks to improve the working and living conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide.

Labour migration

Edging closer to justice: The journey of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon

One migrant domestic worker in Lebanon decided to fight the “kafala” system and escape her employers. She took her case to a Lebanese court, and, seven years on, has been rewarded by achieving a measure of justice, a feat that would have seemed...

Needs of Ukrainian Migrant Domestic Workers Discussed at the National Conference in Ukraine

60 participants, among which representatives of government, workers’ and employers’ organizations, academic community, civil society and UN agencies, participated in the conference on Effective Governance of Labour Migration and its Skills...

Rights at work

Domestic work, Work like any other

The well-publicised case of the abused Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih placed a spotlight on the plight of a vulnerable and often invisible population, migrant domestic workers. Yoshiteru Uramoto, ILO's Regional Director for Asia and the...

The ILO Staff Celebrates International Domestic Workers' Day

When we employ domestic workers, we have a responsibility to ensure that their rights are respected. Today, on the 3rd Anniversary of Convention 189 (June 16), the ILO WORKQUALITY team is raising awareness among ILO staff for each one of us to think...

Opinion

Domestic work, work like any other

Opinion by Yoshiteru Uramoto, ILO Regional Director for Asia-Pacific

ILO study

Migrant domestic workers lack adequate access to justice in Lebanon

The ILO and Caritas find wide-ranging legal, procedural and institutional barriers to justice for migrant domestic workers in Lebanon.

Migrant Domestic Workers

Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon increase skills capacity and support social dialogue

Migrant domestic workers and the ILO launch a catering line and an educational board game to increase cultural integration, enhance skills capacity and support social dialogue in Lebanon.

Migrant Domestic Workers’ Rights Discussed at the Global Forum on Migration and Development

250 civil society organizations from over 75 countries participated in the Civil Society Days of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, on the margins of which a side event on migrant domestic workers was organized with an aim to share...

Domestic workers

Colombia ratifies the Domestic Workers Convention

Colombia is the fourteenth ILO member State and the eight Latin American member State to ratify this instrument that seeks to improve the working and living conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide.

Paraguay

Rights to social protection: domestic workers are no exception

A communications campaign to enrol more domestic workers in Paraguay with social security is showing the first signs of success.

27 February 2014: Launch and dissemination of the tripartite plan of action to promote decent work for domestic workers in Tanzania, ILO...

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE), the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) will launch the tripartite plan of action to...

9 – 10 April 2014: Tripartite workshop on the Promotion of Decent work for Domestic Workers in Zanzibar, Visitors Inn, Jambiani, Zanzibar

The ILO and it’s constituents in Zanzibar, is convening a tripartite workhop from 9th to 10th April 2014, aimed at promoting the ILO convention on Decent work for Domestic workers, No. 189 and its Recommendation No. 201.

Legal document

Domestic work is a professional job

A new decree will take effect in May, requiring employers to cover insurances for domestic workers, give them weekly rests and pay them no less than minimum wages.

Labour Standards

Argentina ratifies the Domestic Workers Convention

Argentina is the thirteenth ILO member State and the seventh Latin American member State to ratify this instrument that seeks to improve the working and living conditions of tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide.

Domestic workers

Lebanon’s Domestic Workers Committee commemorates both Women’s and Mother’s days by demanding better working conditions.

Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon call on the government to grant them their rights in line with international standards during a celebration of both Women’s and Mother’s days.

A promise to domestic workers, after 10 years

An opinion-editorial by Irham Ali Saifuddin, Capacity Building Specialist, ILO-Jakarta highlighting the importance of the ILO Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. This was published by the Jakarta Post on 18 March 2014.

International labour standards

Domestic workers: The need to speed up change

We need to step up the speed of change to better protect domestic workers throughout the world, says ILO Wage Specialist Malte Luebker six months after the entry into force of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Domestic workers: The need to speed up change

Over the course of two years, Kartika Puspitasari, a 30-year-old Indonesian domestic worker, was assaulted by her Hong Kong employers, who would burn her with an iron and beat her with a bike chain. The trial judge called her treatment “cruel” and...