Domestic Workers’ Position Paper on the 109th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) 2021

Since ILO Convention 189 was adopted, domestic workers have obtained legal protection in 35 countries, 18 of which are in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the Arab States and Asia and the Pacific, most domestic workers are either excluded from the scope of labor legislation or have minimal and inadequate coverage. This means that there are huge disparities between regions in terms of legal coverage for the sector. More than 40 million domestic workers are not covered by any labor or social security legislation. And more than 20 million are covered by laws that are not adequately enforced in practice.