Migrant Domestic Workers

The declaration commits signatories to support and strengthen the capacity of national unions for domestic and migrant domestic workers and lobby the three governments to continue to implement their decent work country programmes incorporating the rights of migrant workers. A communication strategy was agreed upon in order to create a platform for the trade union organisations from the three countries to exchange information and share experiences relating to activities executed on the national level. 

The agreement concluded in September 2014 aims to support the continuation of joint activities of trade unions and domestic workers' organisations from both countries as well as to strengthen organisations in Paraguay and their relations with regional and international unions. According to the Action Plan, an online Union Network will be established and a communication strategy using social networks will be developed in order to promote the knowledge and exercise the rights of domestic workers and migrants in Argentina and Paraguay.

In order to promote formalization and tackle irregularity and informality of domestic migrants' status and employment, the Swiss canton of Geneva has adopted a voucher system that can be used by employers to regularly hire domestic workers, particularly women migrant workers, and provide them with social security coverage, even if they are in an irregular migration situation.

The Sri Lanka Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment have made it mandatory for female migrant domestic workers to be trained as housekeeping assistants with National Vocational Qualification Level 3 certification. These workers will be categorised as housekeeping assistants, a level above their former occupational classification as ‘house maids'. Their minimum wage also will be raised – for example the minimum wage for those migrating to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be raised to Saudi Riyal 900 (Lkr.

The Program permits Canadian families to hire workers from abroad to provide care to a child, an elderly person or an adult with disabilities. Caregivers are obliged to work for two years and afterwards they and their immediate families abroad become eligible to apply for permanent residence. The LCP is the only federal program providing direct access to permanent residence for TFWs with lower skill levels.

This project aims to enhance decent work opportunities for migrant domestic workers by reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, and mitigating the adverse impact of migration on the families left behind. The project will works to:

a) enhance the global knowledge base on migration in global care chains though comparative, quantitative and qualitative research in selected countries;

b) raise awareness about human and labour rights of migrant domestic workers, including rights as key actors of social and economic development, and;

The project aims to expand knowledge about possible integration outcomes of admission and employment policies for Migrant Domestic Workers. It hopes to enhance stakeholders' capacity to identify and remove barriers for their socioeconomic integration.

A five-year, technical cooperation programme with a targeted approach for the trafficking of women and girls from South Asia. The objective is to reach 100,000 women and girls in major South Asian countries and major destination countries of South Asian workers for an overall reduction of incidences.

The regional advocacy initiative aims to determine ways in which national laws could be adapted to conform with the new international legal standards, as well as to examine the possibility of Arab States ratifying the Domestic Workers Convention. The program will focus on Bahrain, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman over a period of two years.

The agreement, assures benefits to female migrant domestic workers (inclulding a day-off per week) and sasfeguarding them from abuse (e.g. deduction of hiring fees from salary payments).