The Solidarity Center joins its union and NGO partners around the world in recognizing the contribution of foreign domestic workers and supporting global activities aimed at promoting decent work for domestic workers. 

	Domestic workers march in Indonesia. Banner text reads, "Solidarity with Domestic Workers."

International Day of Solidarity with Foreign Domestic Workers was launched in Sri Lanka on August 28, 2002. Today, with labor migration on the rise, foreign domestic workers are among the most vulnerable to exploitation. As a group, they are largely excluded from labor laws and access to services, such as healthcare, that could improve their workplace and living standards. This lack of rights often opens the door to employer abuse. 
 
Migrant domestic workers are particularly at risk. For many, troubles begin with the migration process itself, stemming from confiscation of travel documents, indebtedness to labor agents, and the constant threat of deportation. Once in their countries of destination, domestic workers, the vast majority of them young women, are usually alone and behind closed doors, where they may labor from sunup to past sundown. Employers in host countries have been known to ensure that domestic workers remain isolated and dependent by cutting off all outside communication and controlling outside activities. Abuses of foreign domestic workers in their worst form include debt bondage and human trafficking. But the workers’ vulnerable legal and social status as foreigners too often quashes any attempt to flee such repression.  
 
Many worker and human rights groups feel that this exploitation and abuse will continue until governments pledge to protect the rights of domestic workers through legally enforceable mechanisms with due oversight and accountability. In keeping with the promotion of decent work for all, the International Labor Organization (ILO) is considering a new standard for domestic workers, potentially leading to a new ILO convention on domestic work. The Solidarity Center is part of a rapidly growing global movement to recognize the dignity of domestic workers, promote domestic workers’ efforts to defend their rights, and call on trade union partners to support a new ILO convention for domestic workers.