LAHORE: An event was held on Friday by the HomeNet Pakistan as part of the Gender Equity Programme being implemented in collaboration with the Aurat Foundation and supported by USAID.

Ume Laila Azhar, executive director of the HomeNet Pakistan, said violence against domestic workers had increased manifold in the country for the last few years.

She said domestic workers were part of the informal sector of economy and it was the need of the time that the government ratified the ILO convention C 189 on domestic workers. It should make laws in line with the convention to protect domestic workers of Pakistan.

Khalid Mahmood, executive director of the Labour Education Foundation, said the registration of domestic workers had started in some parts of the country but unfortunately the objective of this exercise was to increase their security and keep a check on them.

It would have been better if this step was taken for the betterment of the workers and the task of registration had been assigned to the labour department instead of police and Nadra.

He said unfortunately the issues of domestic workers were highlighted only whenever there was an incident of violence against them.

Labour leader Chaudhry Yaqoob said the formal sector has also become semi-formal to a great extent and because of this reason both could collaborate to solve each other’s problems. He suggested that alliances be formed so that different players can launch campaigns for workers.

Shaheena Kausar, general-secretary of the Women’s Workers Union, said women workers were enthusiastic and responsive in Rawalpindi as within months they were aware of their rights and asked about budget and legislation about domestic workers.

Labour Director Javed Gill said he was present in the UN hall when ILO’s convention C 189 was passed. The convention, he said, talked about the rights of domestic workers and the government of Punjab was keen to improve workers’ lives.

He said a major problem which they faced was that labour laws could not be implemented inside houses where domestic workers were employed.

Therefore, laws for the protection of domestic workers could be implemented only with the support of society and backing of local culture, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 28th , 2014