At the recently concluded Asian Parliamentarians’ Forum on Migrant Domestic Workers held in Manila, parliamentarians from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Indonesia noted that some 3 million Asian migrants make significant contributions to the economies of both their countries of origin and destination each year.
These workers are employed in private households—workplaces that fall outside the realm of labor, the Asian lawmakers, including Philippines’ Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello, Gabriela Party- list Rep. Luz Ilagan and Cibac Party-list Rep. Chona Gonzales, further noted. As temporary migrants, they are already vulnerable to deception and abuse by unscrupulous employers and employment agencies by virtue of their immigration status as domestic help.
Joining the three members of the House of Representatives are Shantha Bandara of the Kurunegala District in Sri Lanka, Mustaque Ahmend Ruhi of Bangladesh, Son Chhay of the Cambonian National Assembly, Shehan Semasinghe of Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka, and Eva Kusuma Sundari of Indonesia.
These risks are amplified as their workplaces are largely shielded from scrutiny by the primacy given to the privacy of the home, they said.
Further, they said these abuses take place in the absence of strong commitment on the part of host countries or receiving countries to protect migrant workers .
Thus, they banded together to press for the welfare and protection of their domestic help aimed at setting minimum standards in terms of salary, protection from abuse and maltreatment, and humane working conditions.
They intend to push such standards in their respective governments and in the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention that is expected to vote on an international treaty for migrant workers.
“This is like a labor union of workers coming together to push...for minimum standards for our domestic workers,” Bello said.
“Globalization has promoted free flow of trade and capital but many obstacles accompanied this. Workers have been subjected to conditions of work and living that oftentimes are inhumane....The necessity has been laid bare that we must find a way of coordinating our strategies,” Bello added.
They said they hope the treaty will get two-thirds vote of the representatives of governments, employers and trade unionists who will gather in June in Geneva.
Ilagan said they intend to come up with the minimum standards—what is humane, proper, dignified work, and for governments to recognize domestic work as decent work.
Gonzales, for his part, said domestic help should be regarded as heroes rather than slaves.
In a joint statement, the parliamentarians called on the ILO to begin deliberations on an international convention for migrant workers. They called on the governments of the sending and receiving countries of domestic help to “ensure that migrant work is not ‘commodified,’ and that migrant worker communities are not played off against one another.”
Bello cited situations when countries receiving domestic help would choose the country that can offer the lowest pay for its domestic workers. This often discourages governments of sending countries to stipulate an entry-level salary for its domestic help, he said.
Ellene Sana of the Center for Migrant Advocacy said in the Philippines, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency had issued a policy in 2006 mandating an entry-level salary of $400 for Filipino domestic help. However, she said this has not been strictly observed in Malaysia, Singapore and Gulf countries.
(Jonathan L. Mayuga)
