India voted in favour of the International Labour Organisation’s Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers at their 100^th annual conference in Geneva. The convention, supported by a substantial majority, seeks to recognise the labour rights of domestic workers and ensure that they get regular working hours, holiday, maternity leave and social security. Each country will need to ratify the convention to bring it into force within their borders.

“This convention would help domestic workers both at home and abroad,” according to an Indian official quoted by the Press Trust of India. Increasingly Indians are in domestic service in the Middle East, Europe and USA. Despite early indications that India would oppose the convention, the official claimed that all along India wanted secure benefits for its largest segment of domestic workers engaged internally as well as in foreign countries,.

The new International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards set out that domestic workers around the world who care for families and households, must have the same basic labour rights as those available to other workers: reasonable hours of work, weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours, a limit on in-kind payment, clear information on terms and conditions of employment, as well as respect for fundamental principles and rights at work including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

Children at risk

A report prepared by the ILO says that children make up nearly 30 per cent of the world's estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers. India is no exception to this. About three quarters of domestic workers are believed to be between the ages of 12 and 16 in India. The 2001 census indicated there were 185,000 children in domestic service, but this is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Combining figures for children in domestic service and the hospitality sectors, officials estimate £2.5 million, but NGOs believe the figure could be as high as 20 million. Some are taken into service through an advance payment to their parents which, in effect, traps them in bonded labour.

The convention requires governments to set a minimum age for domestic work and to ensure that work by children above that age does not interfere with their education. India introduced a ban on children under 14 being employed in domestic service back in 2006, and within the first year over 2000 violations were reported. Another convention recommendation urges governments to limit strictly the working hours of child domestic workers and to prohibit domestic service that would harm their health, safety, or morals.

Abusive domestic service

Domestic labour is notoriously difficult to quantify. It is especially prevalent in Delhi, but there is no regulation and no real idea of the numbers involved. As a result, workers are vulnerable to abusive practices – long hours, restricted freedom, little if any pay, even beatings and sexual abuse. In the case of a 16 year-old girl rescued by Dalit Freedom Network’s Indian colleagues last year in Delhi, she was forced to work from 5am until midnight, seven days a week, eating just 2 chapattis a day (unless she was lucky enough to be given the leftovers from dinner), beaten by her employer’s wife, subject to sexual violence from the employer’s son, and she received no pay whatsoever. The girl was from one of India’s indigenous tribes, who along with Dalits, make up the 250 million people who fall below the caste system and are subjected to discrimination and exploitation. She had been trafficked from the Orissa state on behalf of a Delhi-based placement agency.

There is evidence of Indians being trafficked into the UK for domestic service. Britain refused to vote in favour of the ILO Convention, despite assurances that it was supportive in principle, claiming that our own laws give enough protection to domestic workers. This has outraged NGOs such as Anti-Slavery International who continue to lobby for change.

Call for ratification

For some years, activists have been calling for greater protection of domestic workers in India, the vast majority of whom are Dalits. Now the question is not simply how long it will take for India to ratify the convention, but more importantly what will it do to enforce the requirements in practice. Dalit Freedom Network UK is urging both the Indian and UK governments to ratify and enforce the convention. In India we are particularly concerned for the hundreds of thousands of Dalits who are trafficked into domestic work or are exploited and abused in service. Such practices perpetuate the cycle of poverty and exploitation that traps so many Dalits, and children are denied the very thing that gives them a way out of that trap: education.

Our Dalit Education Centres provide affordable, high quality education for children who would otherwise be trafficked or in domestic service. Find out more about our schools and how you can Free A Dalit Child through sponsoring their education for only £15 a month.