Child Domestic Workers

Forum: 4th SIMUN Conference Submitter: The Kingdom of Bhutan Committee: The Human Rights Committee QUESTION OF: CHILD DOMESTIC WORKERS The Human Rights Commission, Understanding the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child (UNCRC), Defining Worst Forms of Child Labour as “work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children”, Disturbed by the ILO-IPEC (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour) findings that most child domestic workers perform tasks that are inappropriate for their age and physical strength, thus affecting a child’s mental, physical, social and intellectual development, Deeply concerned that child domestic workers are susceptible to verbal, physical and sexual abuse by their employers and are unable to voice out these abuses due to personal reasons, Concerned by the fact that children in domestic labour are almost always denied access to education, Keeping in mind that education costs may be one of the reasons families send their children for domestic labour, Alarmed by the fact that predominantly (90%) of child domestic workers are girls, Noting with concern that girls recruited into domestic work can become victims of trafficking in persons, Realizing that efforts to address the barriers to formal and non-formal education that drive children into domestic work at young ages has been insufficient, Taking into consideration, however, the low priority most governments give to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, 1. Urges countries to give high priority to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and prevent the entry of children into child labour, as well as other employment sectors by:

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a) Ratifying, implementing and enforcing with strict control the ILO C138 Minimum Age Convention on Employment as well as; b) Understanding the need to address the root causes of the problems of child domestic workers; 2. Calls upon countries to work with the relevant United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to start a time-bound programme to eliminate the worst forms of child labour; 3. Recommends that governments assist child domestic workers in seeking redress from abusive and/or exploitative employers by extending United Nations Labour Laws to domestic workers, including rights to overtime pay, minimum wages, compensation for workers and leave; 4. Requests that governments ensure the rights of all children to free and compulsory basic education, and in particular, ensure that school fees and other related costs are not preventing children from attending school by: a) Providing educational and training opportunities which will allow them to move away from the domestic service; b) Progressively introducing free access to secondary education for all children, regardless of gender, race or religion, including vocational education; 5. Strongly urges countries to raise awareness of the domestic workers’ situation and ensure that this awareness goes hand-in-hand with proper services for child domestic workers by: a) Setting up rehabilitation centers for child domestic workers who suffered physical, and/or psychological and/or sexual abuse by their employers; b) Promoting the development of specialized basic services for child domestic workers, such as special crisis centers.

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