FOR A WORLD WITHOUT SLAVERY AND FORCED MIGRATION, MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS UNITE!
Statement of the International Migrants Alliance on International Domestic Workers Day
16 June 2023
Today, June 16, designated as the International Domestic Workers Day, we acknowledge and celebrate the growing collective strength of women migrant domestic workers around the world.
Amid existing international labor conventions, global compacts and regional processes upholding their rights, dignity and worth, migrant domestic workers, or MDWs, many of whom are women, continue to receive subhuman wages, experience wage theft including illegal collections from recruitment agencies, are overworked, and remain vulnerable to sexual, physical and all forms of abuses and exploitation at their workplace.
Their employment contracts cannot protect MDWs from the many cases of violence committed against them by their employers. Their rights as workers remain unrecognized by migrant-receiving country governments. Their vulnerability is aggravated by existing anti-migrant policies like the Kafala System in the Gulf countries. The tragic death of Jullebee Ranara, a Filipina domestic worker in Kuwait, is one too many cases of injustice against MDWs.
For many years, the many organized and empowered MDWs have and continue to articulate not only their many challenges but also their demands – just wages, better treatment at the workplace, better working and living conditions, right to regulated working hours and rest days, decent food, access to health, services, information and justice, freedom of movement, and the protection of their rights as workers and as women.
As millions more women – in many underdeveloped countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America – are enticed to work as domestic workers overseas, the situation MDWs find themselves in has not changed for the better post-COVID. Yet, temporary employment overseas, or as we term it “labor export policy” or LEP, is the only solution that many governments provide to resolve abject poverty and impoverishment, unemployment and lack of livelihood, and landlessness in many poor countries. And amid the many beautiful terms given them, e.g., new economic heroes, entrepreneurs or super maids, many MDWs find themselves abandoned or neglected by their governments.
Such conditions of MDWs as well as all temporary migrant workers will only persist if the world remains governed under a neoliberal system. Prioritizing profit over people and planet for the longest time, neoliberal policies have caused multiple economic crises, devastated lands and natural resources, and contributed even in the post-COVID era to rising global inequity and inequality. Under neoliberalism, massive displacement will worsen due to multiple crises, conflicts and wars and people on the move, including the millions of MDWs, will remain to be treated as cheap, disposable labor commodities, and not people with rights and dignity.
Nonetheless, MDWs continue to organize themselves. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, grassroots MDW organizations were the first to lead campaigns for social inclusion, access to aid, health and justice, wage increase and better treatment while providing immediate support to MDWs and any migrant in need. With ears on the ground, they initiated mutual help, online and in-person psychological and social support, and built solidarity links with advocates and service providers, legislators and politicians, women’s groups and civil society all for the service and empowerment of MDWS. They were resilient amid challenges while continuing to resist a system of oppression and exploitation. Indeed, empowered MDWs can lead, speak up, demand change, and work together for change.
On this International Day of Domestic Workers, the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) calls for the recognition of domestic work as work and the protection and upholding of their rights as workers and as women to all migrant domestic workers. Existing international labor conventions like the ILO C189 and ILO C190 should be ratified and domesticated by national governments as mechanisms to ensure MDW access to health, social protection and justice are installed.
The IMA will continue to organize migrant domestic workers, amplify their ongoing campaigns and advocacies, and support initiatives for their collective empowerment. We will work with them as well as all migrants’ rights advocates until their demands to end modern slavery and forced labor migration have been achieved.
Recognize domestic work as work!
Uphold the rights, wellbeing and dignity of migrant domestic workers!
Migrant domestic workers are workers, not slaves!
End forced labor migration!
#InternationalDomesticWorkersDay #InternationalMigrantsAlliance #MigrantWorkersUnited
