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Laxmi was working as a maid at a house in Kathmandu before the government issued the prohibitory orders in Kathmandu to curb the spread of Covid-19. Soon after, Laxmi found herself unemployed when the family, who employed her, asked her to stop coming to work until the restrictions were in place.
"My employers didn't want me to come to work out of the fear of the Covid-19 infection. Right now, I am jobless, and I am worried about my children. Due to the financial instability, it is already difficult for me to take care of my family needs," Laxmi shared her situation at the National level interaction Program, which was organized to mark International Domestic Workers Day and the 10th anniversary of the ILO Convention No. 189 on 18th June 2021.
Rita (name changed), whose situation is similar to Laxmi's, further said that the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the already vulnerable situation of the domestic workers.
"Since domestic work is not recognized as decent work, the plight of domestic workers is often overlooked. We are treated as invisible people at the workplace who become victims of abuse and exploitation. Due to the lack of a contract system, we don't get paid on time and are often paid less than promised. We neither have access to social security nor do we have income protection," said Rita. "As a result, unemployment caused by pandemic has left many domestic workers like me financially deserted."
Laxmi and Rita represent many domestic workers bearing the brunt of the economic fallout and uncertainty caused by the current public health emergency. With fear related to Covid-19 and the restricted mobility associated with confinement measures of prohibitory orders, most people working as domestic workers have either lost their jobs or are being forced to stay on leave by their employers.
A rapid assessment conducted by the Home Workers' Union Nepal of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) also shows that 85 per cent of the domestic workers lost their jobs because of COVID-19 and are now unemployed.
To address the plight of many domestic workers like Laxmi and Rita, the interaction program, convened by the International Labor Organization (ILO), WOREC and International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), focused on providing a platform for the internal as well as returnee migrant Nepali domestic workers to share their needs and demands among all the concerned stakeholders.
Speaking at the program, Shristi Kolaskshyapati, senior program coordinator at WOREC, stated that since the Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted the vulnerability of domestic workers, the government should address the situation by ratifying ILO Convention 189 in order to ensure that the domestic workers are entitled to fundamental labour rights such as access to minimum wages, safe working conditions, social security and legal protection from discrimination and exploitation at workplace.
"The domestic workers are unable to connect to the social security and are deprived of their rights due to the lack of registration system, unavailability of identity cards and contracts at their workplace. Therefore, to formalize domestic work to ensure domestic workers' access to decent work, the government should first ratify ILO Convention 189," said Kolaskshyapati.
In June 2011, delegates of the ILO adopted Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers to improve domestic workers' working and living conditions worldwide. These new standards have been hailed as a 'historic agreement' to ensure the rights and identities of domestic workers. However, Nepal is yet to ratify the Convention, although it voted for it at the UN International Law Commission 2011. In Asia, only the Philippines has ratified the Convention.
Kolaskshyapati also said that ratification of the ILO Convention No 189 is critical to ensure and endorse gender equality, equal work opportunities, and equal wages for both males and females. "Since domestic work remains a female-dominated sector, the government must ratify the convention to ensure gender equality and women's access to decent work and social security," said Kolaskshyapati.
According to Nepal Labor Force Survey 2017/18, nearly 73,00 Nepalis are employed as domestic help by private households. Almost two-thirds of them (88%) are women. However, the nation has not recognized the contribution of women in the labour force as the labour of women in the unorganized sector, domestic work and care work has not been counted yet.
Speaking at the program, Kamal Thapa Kshetri, Human Rights Officer of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said that NHRC has always endorsed ILO Convention189 to the government. However, he suggested the ILO, WOREC, and other civil societies develop a comprehensive study underlining why the ratification of ILO Convention189 is required.
"Since the constitution of Nepal and labour act 2017 have already ensured the rights of domestic workers, if civil societies could come up with comprehensive study justifying the need for the ratification, we will have written evidence to support our advocacy to urge the government to ratify ILO Convention189 civil societies," said Kshetri.
In his concluding remark, Richard Howard, director of the ILO Country Office for Nepal, said that the biggest challenge for Nepal has always been in the implementation of the labour inspection system due to its large informal economy.
"Although Nepal already has formulated Labor Act 2017, it has been difficult for the Nepal government to implement labour inspection system, particularly since it has a large informal economy. Therefore, ILO would like to see the ratification of convention 189 by the Nepal government. In doing so, the government will be more vigilant towards its commitment to make the domestic work as decent work," said Howard.