ITUC’s ’12 by 12’ Campaign keeps up the pressure on governments for the ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention

On 16 June, actions and mobilisations in dozens of countries (from Spain to India, Senegal to Chile ) are expected to keep up the pressure on governments to better protect domestic workers in law and practice and to put a hold on the exploitation and abuse of the 50 to 100 million domestic workers.

Two years on from the historical adoption of the ILO Convention 189 at the International Labour Conference (ILC) on 16 June 2011, the ITUC is intensifying the campaign to get more ratifications and to strengthen domestic workers’ unions.

The adoption of a Convention and of a Recommendation, which are aimed at extending fundamental labour rights to an estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers worldwide, represents a landmark step in the fight against discrimination and abuses. However, that fight is still far from over, since more governments need to ratify Convention 189 and to modify their national labour laws accordingly.

ITUC’s ’12 by 12’ Campaign aims at 12 ratifications of C189, a goal nearly achieved with the two ratifications of C189 last week: Germany and South Africa – making up a total of 10 ratifications.

Other aims and impacts of the ’12 by 12’ Campaign include major labour law reforms (including Brazil, Argentina, Philippines, Vietnam and in two states in the U.S., namely Hawaii and Oregon), significant pay rise of minimum wages in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi and new collective bargaining agreements in Italy and Uruguay. New unions have been established in Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Columbia, Egypt and Angola and tens of thousands of domestic workers have been organised in unions.

The ‘12 x 12’ Campaign is a broad coalition gathering unions, NGOs and other civil society partners in more than 90 countries, working together on improving rights and protection for domestic workers.

Background information:

So far, there have been 10 ratifications: seven countries whose ratifications are registered at the ILO (Uruguay, Philippines, Mauritius, Italy, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Bolivia) and three who finished their ratification process at national level and still need to register at ILO: Colombia, Germany and South Africa.

ITUC ‘s ’12 by 12’ Campaign international partners are the International Domestic Workers Network, IUF, PSI, ETUC, Human Right Watch, Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International , Caritas, SOLIDAR, Migrant Forum Asia , World Solidarity and FOS.

For more information, see
The 12 by 12 Newsletter
The 12 by 12 Flyer
The 12 by 12 Webpage
12 June: Global Day Against Child Labour – focus on child domestic workers
The 12 by 12 Facebook page