New treaty protects domestic workers

A new International treaty has been passed to protect the rights of tens of millions of domestic workers around the world. The new Convention came out of the annual meeting of the International Labour Organization in Geneva.

Domestic workers are particularly vulnerable because they work in private homes, unseen, and isolated from other workers. Often, they are not covered by the existing labour laws.

“The things in the treaty include protections like social security, ensuring there is a written contract, stating there is a minimum age for people in the domestic work sector, ensuring that there are agreements on maximum working hours,” says Oliver Pearce, the Policy Officer at Christian Aid, which pushed to have the Convention adopted.

“One of the key things in the new Convention is a requirement that there should be a level of ability by government to inspect the premises where domestic workers work to make sure they are not being abused and exploited,” he told Vatican Radio.

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Oliver Pearce: