DOMESTIC WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS IN THE ARAB STATES Promising practices and innovative models for a productive working relationship ILO White Paper Sophia Kagan International Labour Organization Regional Office for Arab States Copyright © International Labour Organization 2017 First published 2017 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with reproduction rights organizations may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. Kagan, Sophia Domestic workers and employers in the Arab States: Promising practices and innovative models for a productive working relationship – ILO white paper / International Labour Organization, Regional Office for Arab States. - Beirut: ILO, 2017. ISBN 9789221302513 (print) ISBN 9789221302544 (web pdf) ILO Regional Office for Arab States ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. 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For ILO Regional Office for Arab States publications, contact: ILO Regional Office for Arab States P.O.Box 11-4088 Riad El Solh 1107-2150 Beirut – Lebanon Publications are available on: www.ilo.org/arabstates FOREWORD The domestic work sector in the Middle East is constantly evolving. No longer are domestic workers employed only to clean homes – modern households are increasingly expecting domestic workers to support the care of children during critical stages of development, aid the elderly to live with increased autonomy, and assist in chores and household management. Important progress has been made over the last few years by a number of countries in the Middle East towards legislative change to protect migrant workers. Yet implementation and enforcement remain major challenges, and continuing and credible allegations of abuse and fraudulent behavior continue to plague the sector. This paper presents a number of interesting practices from countries such as Singapore, Jordan, Canada, Ireland, Saudi Arabia and others which could be a useful tool for policymakers in developing strong regulations and enforcement mechanisms to achieve justice and employment satisfaction for both workers and their employers. Frank Hagemann Deputy Regional Director Decent Work Team Director ILO Regional Office for Arab States iii CONTENTS Foreword . iii Acknowledgments . v Executive Summary . vi Acronyms . viii Boxes and Tables . viii Introduction . 1 Section 1: Brief context of domestic work in the Arab States . 3 Section 2: Practical solutions - efficient ways to improve existing frameworks in domestic work . 4 2.1 Balancing workers’ fundamental right to freedom of movement with employers’ protection against financial loss . 6 2.2 Balancing the employer’s right to privacy with the State’s obligation to prevent labour or criminal violations against domestic workers in the household . 11 2.3 Balancing employers’ need for skilled workers, with workers’ need for wage incentives ............................................................13 2.4 Balancing the employers’ need for continuous assistance, with the workers’ right to rest . 15 2.5 Ensuring the rights of both parties through an expedited process for settling disputes ............................................................18 Section 3: ‘Outside the box’- models for consideration . 21 3.1 Introduce a legal channel for live-out migrant domestic workers, including ‘freelancers’...........................................................21 3.2 Allow domestic workers to form cooperatives, or be employed by cooperatives 23 3.3 Allow both workers and employers to set up representative organizations to create better dialogue between both sets of parties ..........................24 Conclusion . 26 References . 27 iv LIST OF BOXES Box 1: ILO studies of attitudes of employers of domestic workers in Lebanon, Jordan and Kuwait Box 2: Singapore’s behavioural change strategy and awareness-raising for employers Box 3: Saudi Arabia’s electronic recruitment - Musaned Box 4: Ireland’s inspection system Box 5: Professionalization of domestic work in Hong Kong (China) Box 6: Canada’s calculation of working hours Box 7: Jordan’s Al Hassan Workers’ Centre Box 8: Creating safe spaces for domestic workers: Equip (Lebanon) Box 9: Lebanon’s social workers within the Ministry of Labour Box 10: Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission Adjudicator Box 11: On-demand cleaning service apps in India Box 12: US Cooperative Home Care Associates Box 13: Italy’s dialogue between domestic workers and employers ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was developed by Sophia Kagan (Chief Technical Adviser), with support from Eliza Marks (Technical Officer) with the FAIRWAY Project of the ILO Regional Office for Arab States. The document was reviewed by a number of ILO technical staff including Hans van de Glind, Emanuela Pozzan, Maria Gallotti, Claire Hobden, Ryszard Cholewinski, Zeina Mezher, Suha Labadi, Patrick Daru, as well members of the ILO Policy Advisory Committee on Fair Migration in the Middle East and the International Domestic Workers’ Federation. The report was funded with the generous support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation through the FAIRWAY project. A final word of thanks to Reham Rached, Katia Oneiss and Ayyam Safady for translation assistance for the Arabic version of the report. v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A productive employment relationship their own hands, leading to behaviours between a household (employer) and such as prohibiting a domestic worker to a domestic worker is a key ingredient leave the house on the worker’s weekly to harmonious households and well- day off, which breach international functioning labour markets across the standards. Some of the core concerns Arab States in the Middle East (hereafter expressed by employers relate to ‘the Arab States’). Domestic workers potential economic loss of allowing support the care of children during freedom of movement of the worker critical stages of development, support – including their fear that they would the elderly to live with dignity, and (by lose the investment that they had made relieving nationals of their domestic to bring the worker to the country of and care responsibilities) enable destination if she ‘runs away’, commits greater female labour participation, in a crime or becomes pregnant. furtherance of nationalization policies. The challenge for governments in the Although there have been some region is to develop policies that tackle improvements in the regulation discrimination while also helping to of this sector, much more can be balance the legitimate concerns of done to ensure that there is better both employers and workers. A well- understanding between the two functioning care and domestic work parties (domestic workers and their economy should ensure access to employers) and better systems of justice, effective enforcement and compliance, ultimately resulting in remedies in the case of abuse, while more harmonious and productive also addressing issues of prejudice working relationships. As many Arab through advocacy. countries face continued allegations of ‘modern slavery’ in the global media, it This White Paper presents a number of is important to ask whether the current ideas for governments in the region to system of regulation is in fact serving consider, and brings innovative thinking the needs of employers and workers, both from the Arab States and around and upholding basic human rights. the world (particularly from countries which also have high demand for Through ILO research with employers domestic workers). We describe these of domestic workers in Jordan, Kuwait practices as ‘promising practices’ and Lebanon, as well as other research as they demonstrate a step towards carried out with domestic workers, it is compliance with international labour clear that in the absence of an effective standards, but may not necessarily system of regulation of the sector, show full compliance. employers often