about the home alone: end domestic slavery campaign

What is the campaign calling for?

Anti-Slavery International is calling for the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt a new convention on domestic work which would protect the rights of domestic workers worldwide and ensure they are treated equally and fairly.

Home Alone, invisible to society and lacking sufficient legal protections, domestic workers are among the most exploited and abused workers in the world. Many are in slavery. Action at the international level is needed to address these gaps in legal protection and end the abuse. Domestic workers need effective laws and regulations which are tailored to the unique nature of their work inside a private household.

What is the International Labour Organization?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the UN agency devoted to labour rights. It is a tripartite organisation, comprised of national governments, workers and employers. It holds some of the most important international conventions on slavery, including on forced labour.

The ILO will discuss creating a new international instrument on domestic work at its annual conferences in 2010 and 2011. If a new convention is agreed, it would be adopted in 2011. This represents a historic opportunity for improved and specific legal protections for domestic workers.

How would a new ILO convention protect domestic workers?

The new convention would set out the employment rights of domestic workers. All countries which ratify the convention will have a legal obligation to ensure that these rights are granted.

A new convention would recognise that domestic work is ‘work’ – addressing perceptions that domestic work is informal ‘help’ and not ‘proper’ work - and that domestic workers deserve the same employment rights as any other worker.

It would set strict rules to prevent abuse and make it clear that domestic workers deserve respect and dignity. It would also provide important guidance to employers of domestic workers, many of whom are currently operating in an absence of rules and regulations.

By addressing issues unique to domestic work, such as live-in arrangements and how to regulate and monitor work that is taking place within a private home, the adoption of a new convention is a crucial opportunity to achieve increased legal protections for domestic workers and deliver real change to the lives of millions worldwide. If successful, the process will significantly contribute to the eradication of the forced labour, trafficking, debt bondage and child slavery to which many domestic workers are subjected.

Join the HOME ALONE: end domestic slavery campaign!

Please support our HOME ALONE campaign and help END DOMESTIC SLAVERY now.

Take action here to call on the UK government to support the adoption of a new ILO convention on domestic work by 2011.

Take action here to call on governments worldwide to support the adoption of a new ILO convention on domestic work by 2011.

Please lend your voice to the millions of domestic workers HOME ALONE.