NVCO OBSERVES INTERNATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS’ DAY

With the rest of the World, the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) observed theannual International Domestic Workers Day on 16th June, 2021 at the State Capital.

NVCOstated that domestic workers have been among the workers the most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak andtheir contribution to households have been immense, even while the pandemic has threatened their livelihood. It said that they are among the most vulnerable groups of workers,an estimated 67.1 million people are employed in domestic work around the world, most of them women. They works are undervalued and least regulated forms of employment and regularly experience exploitation and abuse. The use of children as domestic servants continues to be common in parts of the world including ‘Nagaland state’ and they are very vulnerable to exploitation and physical violence, it added.

Marking the event of the ‘Day’ NVCO President, Kezhokhoto Savi said that on June 16, 2011, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a landmark treaty, the convention on decent work for Domestic Workers. The treaty is the first to set out the rights of domestic workers. He said that it requires countries to guarantee domestic workers the same rights as other workers and since the adoption of ILO Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers, many countries around the world have worked to improve their protection.

Therefore, this year 2021, the ILO is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Convention 189. However, even while celebrating the 10th anniversary, Domestic Workers are still fighting for equality and decent working conditions and demanded to be recognized as ‘domestic worker’ and not as ‘maid’ or ‘helper’ or ‘servant’, he said.

                                                                                                            (DIPR)