Domestic Workers

Around our globe today, millions of people are on the move, trying to live in countries not their own. In some cases this movement is voluntary as people search for better life opportunities, education, or work. In many more cases, the migration is forced, as people flee poverty, civil unrest and war, or search for employment simply for survival.

A migrant worker is a person engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a national. A domestic worker is defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as “a wage-earner working in a private household, under whatever method and period of remuneration, who may be employed by one or by several employers who receive no pecuniary gain from this work.” Domestic workers are usually occupied as housekeepers, nannies, cooks, drivers, gardeners, and other personal servants. Some domestic and migrant workers labor under slave-like conditions.

In the last decade, an increase in exploitation against foreign migrant domestic workers is bringing to light modern-day slavery in the “developed” or “first” world. Foreign domestic workers, who are brought to other countries by diplomats and corporate executives, are among the most abused and vulnerable migrant workers. (See: www.aamovement.net/immigrant_labor/domesticworkers.html). Although not bought as slaves, fundamental human rights of migrants are too easily violated or ignored. The exploitation can range from wage and hour violation to physical and sexual abuse. In many documented cases employers also withhold legal documents of migrant workers, thereby restricting their mobility. Not considered as "workers," such domestic workers are not covered by labor protection legislation, making them easy targets for exploitation and rendering them powerless and vulnerable because of language and other cultural barriers.

Highlighting the plight of these workers in the United States, the Campaign for Migrant Domestic Workers Rights focuses primarily on domestic workers who have entered the United States through a special visa program that grants international bureaucrats and diplomats the privilege of bringing hired help in from overseas. The Campaign reports that most domestic workers are poor women from developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America who enter the United States on temporary visas. Once paper work is filed for these visas, international institutions and embassies take a “hands-off” approach to the plight of these domestic workers.

Prohibitions:

• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990.

Related Sites:

Portal for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Migrants. http://www.december18.net/intro.htm

The Global Campaign for Ratification of the Convention on Rights of Migrants. http://www.migrantsrights.org

Campaign for Migrant Domestic Worker Rights: The Campaign for Migrant Domestic Workers Rights is a coalition of legal and social service agencies, ethnically-based organizations, social action groups and individuals devoted to protecting the rights of the migrant domestic working community. http://www.ips-dc.org/campaign/index2.htm