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DOMESTIC WORK LABOR MIGRATION & TRAFFICKING: WOMEN –
INDIA DOMESTIC WORKERS AT HOME & ABROAD – ILO STUDY
B. Patel / ILO
29
July 2015 - A new ILO study exposes the pitfalls of labour migration for women
domestic workers both within India and abroad and provides policy-makers and
service providers with deeper insight into the nature of forced labour and
trafficking in the region.
29
July 2015 - NEW DELHI (ILO News) – Jameela, a 50-year old Indian woman, needed
money to support her family. She didn’t think she would find much, if any,
funds close to home. She got in touch with an agent who arranged for her to
leave Mallapuram, Kerala in southwest India to work abroad.
Upon leaving India, she, like many female labour migrants, had only a very
minimal understanding of the working conditions at her destination. It didn’t
turn out as she had hoped.
“I worked from 5am to 11pm cooking, cleaning and ironing for a family and their
guests. I was rudely scolded, even slapped a few times by my employer, the lady
of the house. I could only eat the leftovers they gave me if and when I had
time. Once I got sick and a week’s wages were deducted. I was not allowed to
talk to other workers in the house,” said Jameela of her experience as a
domestic worker in a household in a Persian Gulf state.
Overworked, mistreated and trapped in this difficult situation far from home,
Jameela managed to find an escape route, returning to India after enduring this
treatment for one year.
Indispensable yet
unprotected
She is one of the persons surveyed in a new International
Labour Organization (ILO) study entitled, Indispensable
yet unprotected: Working conditions of Indian domestic workers at home and
abroad (2015) .
The study, done in collaboration with the Self Employed
Women's Association in India (SEWA) , examines two of the most
frequented migrant routes for Indian female domestic workers: from the state of
Kerala in Southern India to the Arab countries and from Jharkhand state in
Eastern India to New Delhi.
In surveying a number of migrants and would-be migrants, the study sought to
understand the problems of migrant labour in domestic work and to assess the
nature and extent of abuse.
It concluded that the majority of migrant domestic workers to the Arab States
and some of the internal migrants from Jharkhand are victims of trafficking and
forced labour according to international definitions of these crimes.
Abuses encountered by domestic workers The growing role of informal
intermediaries and unscrupulous private employment agencies operating outside
the legal and regulatory framework that prey particularly on low-skilled
workers can lead to abuses including the following:
A combination of these abuses
can amount to human trafficking and forced labour. |
In 2013, the government of India adopted the Criminal Law Amendment Act which
declared trafficking an offence in national law. It defines exploitation as any
act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery, or
practices similar to slavery, servitude or the forced removal of organs. India
has also developed a National Plan of Action and is working on putting in place
remedial measures.
Vulnerable and isolated
Poor,
Indian women, especially those who are single or widowed, are particularly
vulnerable to distress migration. Some factors which underpin this
vulnerability are: lack of skills, awareness, income-generating opportunities,
land and assets; illiteracy; and suffering social inequalities due to caste and
ethnicity.
© B.
Patel / ILO
“Many
domestic workers are still not protected by national labour laws; instead they
are exposed to overly restrictive immigration laws and policies. Their
isolation in private homes, lack of information and support can lead to
exploitation. It is time to change that,” said Beate Andrees, Head of the ILO
Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour.
A number of the women surveyed for the study had restrictions imposed upon them
such as not being allowed to go out of the house or allowed to talk to other
workers and not having any leave.
Some receiving countries, however, have taken steps towards better protection
of migrant domestic workers. In Saudi Arabia, there is shelter in Riyadh for
domestic workers who need help in obtaining exit visas to return home or in
claiming unpaid wages from their employers. The Ministry of Labour has begun
penalizing employers who have mistreated their workers by barring them from
hiring foreign workers for five years or, in some cases, for life.
Some women are fortunate enough to find decent working conditions in their jobs
abroad and within India: they are treated well, regularly paid fair wages and
can earn significantly more than they would in their home environments.
ILO standards for
migrants, domestic workers
Nevertheless,
more progress is needed both in countries of labour emigration and immigration.
The ILO is assisting member States to provide adequate protection.
The 2014 Protocol to
the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention (C.29, 1930) and a Recommendation
on Supplementary Measures for the Effective Suppression of Forced Labour (R203,
2014) play a critical role in creating a level playing field
for recruitment and placement of workers, particularly across borders.
The new Protocol stipulates an obligation to punish perpetrators of forced
labour and to end the impunity that is pervasive in so many countries. The ILO
is advocating for the ratification of the Forced Labour
Protocol by at least 50 countries by 2018, with Niger being the
first nation to ratify this new labour standard in May 2015.
In addition, the ILO’s Domestic
Workers Convention (C.189, 2011) provides a solid framework
for respect of migrant domestic worker’s rights at home and abroad. It has been
ratified by 21 countries.
These international standards, if implemented, should allow Jameela and the
estimated 44 million female domestic workers worldwide, to work in decent
conditions. In so doing, a win-win situation will benefit both employees and
employers.