The "Magna Carta for Domestic Workers"

by TrustLaw
Tuesday, 27 May 2014 10:07 GMT

Thomson Reuters Foundation/Min Zayar Oo

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There are 100 million domestic workers in the world and many are forced into servitude and slavery.

In the Philippines, 12% of the country’s women are employed as domestic workers, receiving salaries pegged at less than one dollar per day.

Manila-based Visayan Forum is an anti-slavery NGO. We connected the organisation with lawyers at White & Case and Grasty Quintana Majlis & Cia who produced comparative research on domestic workers’ rights, looking at the national policies in Chile, France, Italy, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Singapore. 

Visayan Forum used the research to successfully negotiate for landmark legislation in the Philippines,  the “Magna Carta for Domestic Workers”, passed in February 2013.

“It was difficult to lobby without sufficient knowledge. The research filled a major information gap and helped us achieve very strong results.” 

- Cecilia Flores Oebanda, Executive Director, Visayan Forum


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