GFMD Preparatory Workshop on International Migrant Domestic Care Workers at the Interface of Migration and Development: Action to Expand Global Practice in the Asian Region

In Manila, over 60 delegates from nineteen countries of migrant origin and destination, 4 international organisations and 2 regional civil society organisations, at a Preparatory Workshop for the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) 2012, the world’s pre-eminent dialogue on international migration, pledged to make human rights a reality for the world’s migrant domestic care workers, the majority of whom are women.

Delegates from Sri Lanka, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam in a breakout group discussion: Reinforcing the link between the protection of migrant domestic care workers and their role as development actors. Photo credit: UN Women

The Workshop on “International Migrant Domestic Care Workers at the Interface of Migration and Development: Action to Expand Global Practice in the Asian Region” held on 15-16 October 2012, was hosted by the Government of the Philippines, with the support and cooperation of the Mauritian Chair of the GFMD and UN Women.

This workshop built on the work of GFMD 2010 and 2011, specifically on the special case study of migrant domestic care workers at the interface of migration and development, by encouraging governments to implement the GFMD Checklist to Protect and Support Domestic Workers and an aide to developing legal and social protection for domestic workers. Delegates affirmed that the ILO Convention 189 is part of a growing framework of interlocking protections for migrant domestic care workers, including the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), known as the Women’s Bill of Rights, and its General Recommendation No. 26 on Women Migrant Workers, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW) and its General Comment No. 1 on Migrant Domestic Workers. The workshop made some recommendations on sustainable follow-up actions leading into the Roundtable 3.3 of the GFMD 2012 in Mauritius in November 2012.

Click here for GFMD 2012 Preparatory Workshop in Manila Summary Report.