A group of non-government organizations (NGOs) said many domestic workers within Asia and those who migrate from Asia to the Middle East experience a wide range of abuse, including unpaid wages, restrictions on leaving the households where they work, and excessive work hours with no rest days.
Some may face psychological, physical, or sexual abuse and can get trapped in situations of forced labor, including trafficking, it says.
"Domestic workers from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka experience horrific abuse," Human Rights Watch (HRW) senior women's rights researcher, Nisha Varia, said in a report made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
"These governments should pick up the pace of reform to introduce long overdue protection for both domestic workers at home and those migrating abroad".
The 33-page report "Claiming Rights: Domestic Workers' Movements and Global Advances for Labor Reform" says roughly 40 percent of domestic workers globally are employed in Asia, yet the region has been slow to enact reform despite major progress in other parts of the world.
"More than 25 countries have improved legal protection for domestic workers, with many of the strongest reforms in Latin America," said the report released by HRW and two other rights groups, the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The report assesses progress since the 2011 adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, a groundbreaking treaty entitling domestic workers to the same basic rights as other workers.
In Asia, the Philippines adopted comprehensive legislation protecting domestic workers in January. It is the only Asian country to have ratified the Domestic Workers Convention.
"The momentum of ratifications and improved laws in Latin American nations and a number of other countries shows that governments are capable of protecting domestic workers," said ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow.
"Governments that have lagged – particularly in Asia and the Middle East – need to act without delay." (ebf)
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