NHRC conference on domestic workers begins in Pune; Laws related to domestic workers need to be more comprehensive to protect their rights, says Dr. D.M. Mulay, Member, National Human Rights Commission. (30.08.2019)

Dr. D.M. Mulay, Member, National Human Rights Commission today said that there is a need to have a comprehensive legislation to protect the welfare and the rights of the millions of domestic workers in the country. He was inaugurating the Regional Conference on ‘Human Rights of Domestic Workers: Issues and Challenges’organized by the Commission in collaboration with ILS Law College, Pune, Maharashtra.

Dr. Mulay said that most of the domestic workers, being poorly educated, become victims of humiliation, sexual harassment and trafficking in the absence of an intermediate legal regulatory third party. He expressed the hope that outcome of the conference may be useful in bringing to the notice of the government some pertinent suggestions to ameliorate the cause of domestic workers.

Earlier, Mr. Jaideep Govind, Secretary General, NHRC gave an introduction to the conference and urged the representatives of the State Labour Departments to utilize this conference as a platform to realize the right to decent work of domestic workers. He said that the recommendations of the conference would be pursued with the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Given significance of domestic work in the Indian economy and vulnerability of the people engaged in this labour market activity, the objectives of this regional conference are:

1. To understand the issues and challenges of domestic workers in India from a human rights perspective- A situational analysis into the ground reality of India.

2. To advocate for designing specific legislations to regulate the domestic work on the state and central level.

3. To advocate legislative inclusion of domestic workers in existing laws related to minimum wages, unorganized sector, and social security.

4. To recognize domestic workers as ‘workers’ under the law towards fair terms of employment, social protection and labour welfare.

For discussions on such aspects, the conference, has been divided into three thematic sessions. These are Domestic Workers in India- Issues and Challenges, Mapping Domestic Workers in the Indian Legislative and Welfare Framework and Regulation of Domestic Work – A Road ahead.

The participants include Ms. Soso Shaiza, Member, NCW, representatives of Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, representatives of State Governments, representatives of National Workers’ Movement, Action Aid Association, Ms. Vaijayanti Joshi, Principal, ILS Law College, Dr. Tejaswini, Malegaonkar, Faculty Coordinator, Human Rights Cell, ILS Law College, Pune, Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council, Civil Society representatives, academia.