The International Labour Organization (ILO) said it has received an encouraging response from several countries about their willingness to join the Convention on Domestic Workers, which ILO delegates adopted last month.

Brazil reportedly indicated that it would like to be the first country to ratify the treaty.

According to the ILO's own regulations, the convention only comes into force after it has been ratified by two countries. The organization said it is confident that will happen by next year - yet the process involves more than just a signature.

Before governments can ratify the convention, they must make sure their own national laws and practices reflect the obligations outlined in the treaty.

Delegates at the centennial ILO annual conference in Geneva voted 396 to 16 to adopt the domestic workers convention, which had been a decade in the making. There were 63 abstentions.

A welcome change

When the outcome of the vote was announced, crowds of domestic workers and advocates gathered in Geneva erupted in cheers. Many had traveled long distances - from South Africa, Kenya, Nepal and Jamaica - to show their support for the convention.

They see the treaty as a promise of protection from slavery-like conditions at work - for them, and for millions of others who work in the invisible confines of someone else's home.

"It is an excellent day," said Shirley Price, president of the Jamaica Household Workers Association. "Now we have justice, justice is served," she added.

Today, Price is a union organizer, but she was once a domestic worker herself. Through her current work, she aims to protect others from experiencing the kind of abuse she had to endure.

Name-calling wasn't the half of it: "Sometimes, I started working in the morning at 6 a.m.," said Price. "And I didn't finish until after 12 o'clock at night."

Always 'on call'

One thing that the ILO convention seeks to provide is regular working hours. The organization's director-general, Juan Somavia, notes that more than 56 percent of all domestic workers have no laws limiting their hours of work.

About 45 percent are not entitled to at least one day off each week. Somavia said the convention will clarify an important distinction.

"The convention states that domestic workers are workers [...]," he said. "They are neither servants nor members of the family."

"This might sound obvious, but it is not. And being a worker means having rights, a voice, and access to a decent life - and many domestic workers today are closer to being forced laborers than workers."

Recent ILO estimates show there are at least 53 million domestic workers worldwide. But given the hidden nature of this work, experts believe the number is probably closer to 100 million.

More than 80 percent of these workers are women and girls, and most come from developing countries. Many are migrant workers.

Escaping abuse

Narbada Chhetri is a domestic worker from Nepal and a member of the National Domestic Workers Alliance in New York. She says government instability has sent people looking for work outside Nepal.

"Our economical condition is going worse and worse, so that people are migrating to different countries, are moving to different countries," she said.

Chhetri said domestic workers who are informed about their rights can work under good conditions - but those who find work in Gulf states are often worse off.

Indonesia recently stopped sending workers to Saudi Arabia after a Saudi court ordered the beheading of an Indonesian maid without notifying the Indonesian government.

Under the new convention, domestic workers will have recourse to justice from abusive employers. Governments that ratify it are required to take measures to ensure that domestic workers enjoy effective protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and violence.

The right to a voice

Another key element in the document is the right to collective bargaining, which is still prohibited in many countries.

The convention also includes access to a complaint mechanism, and one provision targets unscrupulous private employment agencies, who have cheated domestic workers by demanding high fees for job placement services.

The director of ILO's Conditions of Work and Employment Program, Manuela Tomei, said providing the protections enshrined in this document would not be easy.

But she added that the agreement is not toothless, saying it contains a number of concrete measures that can make a difference: "measures that are related to the fact of ensuring, first of all, labor inspectors might be allowed to enter into private households under, of course, very strict conditions in order to verify whether or not the national law as far as domestic workers are concerned is being applied or not."

Information is power

Another provision emphasizes the need to provide adequate information to domestic workers about their rights, including the tasks they will be asked to perform, their hours of work, and pay.

Price described the prevailing attitude toward many domestic workers:

"Even when we do a good job … we are always unseen - invisible."

Domestic workers and activists see the convention as an important way to raise awareness about domestic workers who suffer in silence around the world.

"This is very, very important …" Narbada Chhetri said. "This convention is for that invisible person."

Author: Lisa Schlein (arp)
Editor: Eva Wutke