COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS DISCUSSES OUTCOME OF DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION ON THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS

The Committee on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families this morning discussed the outcome of yesterday’s day of general discussion on the rights of migrant domestic workers and decided to draft a report on the discussion and to start working on a General Comment on the issue.

Azad Taghizada, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee, opening the discussion, said that yesterday they had had a lengthy discussion on the issue of migrant domestic workers, which was an important issue. Many significant areas had been touched upon. It was difficult to draw conclusions from the discussion but he thought the Committee should still take steps to preserve what had been done yesterday, to develop the recommendations that had been endorsed and to look forward with some kind of plan of action.

Mr. Taghizada said the first step should be the preparation of a kind of summary of everything that had been said in the discussions. They needed to prepare such a document for the Committee, together with the organizations that had participated in yesterday’s event. This would take the form of a general report covering the content of their discussions.

Also yesterday, a great deal of data had been provided on very specific cases; these had an overall value and could be used to feed the topic in general. Great attention should also be given to the proposals which had come from the International Labour Organization and they should look at the possibility, as was proposed, to prepare a document for the International Labour Organization, dedicated to the current state of affairs with regard to migrant domestic workers, said Mr. Taghizada.

This was one direction their work should move into. Another area of work would be for the Committee to take a few direct steps, such as the adoption of recommendations with regard to migrant domestic workers, said Mr. Taghizada. Here, they could make some general remarks and reflect the Committee’s views on this area. This should not only relate to source countries but it should also involve host countries. It might be necessary to think about how they could do this.

In the ensuing discussion, members of the Committee expressed support for the proposals of the Chair. One Expert highlighted the need to, not only provide training to job agencies and to the employees, but also to prospective employers. There should also be a verification process that would check on prospective employers, as they were often the future exploiter. This verification process should involve the sending countries’ diplomatic mission.

An innovative idea that was expressed yesterday had been the idea for a specific Ombudsman for migrant domestic workers; this idea should be further developed. The Committee should also continue its engagement with civil society and non-governmental organizations. It was bad enough that Governments were not able to handle the situation by themselves right now, thus the Committee should continue to cooperate with civil society to handle this problem, said one Expert.

Further, they needed to bring about a shift in thinking and to bring people to recognize domestic workers no longer as unskilled labour but as somebody doing proper work with socio-economic implications, said one Expert.

Another problem was the fact that, very often, migrant domestic workers saved all their money to send it back to their home country and went out very little, practically working 24 hours a day. Many of these people were never seen outside of the home they worked in. They did not know about their own rights and assumed they had none. How could the Government be involved to ensure that these workers were aware of their rights? There was a necessity to raise the awareness of migrant domestic workers, said the Expert.

On the issue of what sort of instrument would be best to address the issue, another Expert said that there had been many conventions that had stood idle for many years, because they had remained without enough ratification. There was a danger that a convention would not get enough support from the international community. Further, one knew very well that when one talked about such a vulnerable group of people, there was a certain reluctance to ratify an instrument. This was best shown by the number of countries which had ratified the Migrant Workers Convention. It would thus be a better step to move forward with a general recommendation.

Civil society representatives also highlighted the fact that there were many commonalities between all the problems migrant domestic workers were experiencing in all the different countries they had heard from during yesterday’s discussion. It was an international problem. A well-written General Comment should address the need to develop further instruments and research.

Another subject highlighted by a civil society representative was the issue of family rights of migrant workers. In many countries, migrant workers did not have any family rights. They did not have the right to migrate with their family. A women becoming pregnant could be penalized. When two migrant workers became a couple one of them could be deported. This demonstrated the instrumental approach and the way migrant workers were seen as mere work machines. This situation also had health implications. Women who wanted to preserve their status went to have illegal abortions. The mental implications of people not being able to see their family for years without end had also been highlighted in studies.

Abdelhamid El Jamri, Chairman of the Committee, proposed to create a Working Group tasked with drafting the report on the general day of discussion. The Working Group would be composed of the two chairs of yesterday’s Working Groups: Mr. Jose Brillantes, and Ms. Anamaria Dieguez; its two rapporteurs: Mr. John Bingham and Ms. Martina Liebsch; the Chair of the Committee and the Secretariat. The report could be of help to the International Labour Organization and for civil society.

Mr. Jamri also proposed that the Committee prepare a General Comment on the issue of migrant domestic workers at its next session. Two members of the Committee, Ms. Ana Elizabeth Cubas Medina and Ms. Miryam Konsimbo Pussy, were tasked with the drafting of the Comment. He also invited non-governmental organizations to participate in the process.

Both proposals were accepted by the Committee.


When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Friday, 15 October 2009, it will adopt its concluding observations on the review of the report of Sri Lanka and discuss preparations for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, as well as the upcoming Athens Global Forum on Migration and Development in November 2009, before closing its eleventh session.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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