Migrants Forum Asia has called on the ILO to set specific guide lines for domestic workers.

The majority of Asia's 60 million migrant workers are women, and many of them work as housemaids and nannies. MFA believes that existing international conventions do not adequately protect their rights.

“A definitive, coherent, and comprehensive instrument is needed to clearly establish minimum standards and rights for all domestic workers as workers,” Migrants Forum Asia executive committee chair Ellene Sana said in a speech on June 3 to delegates to the ongoing 99th International Labor Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Sana lamented that domestic work has not been fully and widely recognized as work; domestic workers have not been covered by labor laws that protect and promote their rights, welfare, and dignity.

“Despite the significant contributions of domestic workers to their households and employers’ families, to communities and countries (both of origin and destination), and to the industries and economies in which they selflessly invest their time, skills, sweat and tears, these domestic workers have yet to enjoy the recognition they have so long deserved,” she said

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Most women that migrate for work do so because of poverty and a lack of opportunities in their home countries. em