Realizing Homeworkers' Labour Rights

Long and complex supply chains make outsourcing to homeworkers a challenge to regulate.

To ensure decent conditions for homeworkers, sector-specific legal protections are needed. International laws recognize the importance of extending labour rights to homeworkers. But very few countries have translated these rights into domestic legislation.

Since 2019, we have collaborated with HomeNet International (HNI) and its affiliates on research, capacity building and technical support to advance their national and international advocacy efforts to realize homeworkers’ labour rights. The ultimate goal of this work is to support homeworkers to shape the laws that affect them.

ActivitiesAligning national legislation with Convention No. 177

The International Labour Organization adopted Convention No. 177 on Homeworkers (C177) in 1996. But so far only a few countries have ratified it and translated it into their labour laws. HNI and its affiliates are working to change this by campaigning for the ratification of C177, and for the inclusion of homeworkers in existing labour laws or the adoption of new laws specifically for homeworkers.

WIEGO supports these efforts with research on different legislative models to protect homeworkers at the national level. We document how homeworker organizations have advocated for legislative change in their countries, the legislative model adopted, how it has been implemented, and the implications it has on homeworkers’ rights. We are also contributing a chapter on different legislative frameworks available for homeworkers to a toolkit HNI is developing on advocacy for C177.

ActivitiesIncluding homeworkers in human rights due diligence

Human rights due diligence is a risk management process for companies to identify, prevent and address the ways their business activities harm people’s rights. This includes their rights at work. So making due diligence a legal requirement for companies is a key tool for improving working conditions for homeworkers.

Since 2020, we have engaged in advocacy – alongside HNI, HomeNet South-East Asia and HomeNet South Asia – related to the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. We supported 14 organizations from eight production countries to understand and participate in the legislative process, including submitting a platform of demands to the EU Commission and sending an open letter to every Commissioner.

The Directive was adopted in May 2024. EU member states now have two years to introduce legislation that makes it mandatory for large companies to carry out human rights due diligence across their full supply chains, including outsourcing to homeworkers.

ActivitiesParticipating in international oversight of C177

Reporting to the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms is an important tool for holding member states accountable for the commitments they make by ratifying C177. Supporting homeworker organizations to participate in the reporting process ensures the mechanisms have a rich overview of the situation of homeworkers and can also help the organizations to identify priorities for their national-level advocacy.

In 2019, we supported the Bulgarian Homeworkers Association to submit a report to the ILO Committee of Experts on the Applications of Conventions and Recommendations on its government’s failure to include homeworkers in labour legislation after ratifying C177.