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	Educational Toolkit on the Holocaust and Human Rights Education by EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Yad Vashem   27 January 2012   Fight against hate and intolerance must continue says OSCE Chairperson on Holocaust Remembrance Day.   Speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the OSCE Chairperson, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, emphasized the need to continue to fight hate and intolerance.   “The unique horrors of the Holocaust can never be forgotten. We can only truly honour the memory of the victims of the Holocaust by continuing to fight against anti-Semitism, discrimination against Roma and Sinti as well other forms of hate and intolerance present in our societies today,” he said. “I will personally pay my respects during a visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Sunday.”   “The persistence of anti-Semitic acts, as well as other hate crimes, is abhorrent and International Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as a reminder of the need for OSCE participating States to do more to tackle these crimes in all their manifestations. This includes ensuring police and other agencies identify hate crimes and respond to them appropriately as well as preventing hate through tolerance education.”   The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) publishes an annual report on hate crimes and incidents in the OSCE Region that also highlights best practices of participating States and civil society in tackling them. ODIHR has also developed teaching materials for schools to intolerance.   Nov 2011   On 9 November 2011, the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and Yad Vashem launched a new educational Toolkit on the Holocaust and Human Rights Education in the EU.   Three years ago, on 9 November 2008, marking 70 years since the Kristallnacht Pogrom, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and Yad Vashem initiated an educational project to create an online pedagogical tool - a Toolkit on the Holocaust and Human Rights Education.   The toolkit was developed in response to a real educational gap, expressed by both educators and students. By examining the connections between Holocaust and human rights education, the toolkit provides methodological approaches for teaching these topics and includes useful content for teaching.   The toolkit is a practical online guide for educators who wish to develop teaching projects that link the Holocaust and the protection of human rights. Projects and activities in the toolkit combine teaching history lessons, developing empathy with the victims, connecting the knowledge of the Holocaust with that of human rights, deriving implications for today"s world, and empowering students to respect human rights.   Sample content ranges from Austrian high school students learning about the antisemitic portrayal of Jews in the Nazi propaganda paper Der Stürmer to Slovenian middle school students learning about the Holocaust as a case study in an effort to become active participants in the process of learning about human rights. Additionally, the toolkit contains 11 posters created by design students from Europe and abroad as part of a prestigious international competition sponsored by the International Task Force for Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, to commemorate the Holocaust. These projects aim to inspire teachers across the EU to use the toolkit as a basis for exploring and discussing the connections between the Holocaust and human rights and values.   Yad Vashem, the Holocaust education and research center in Jerusalem established in 1953 by the Israeli Parliament, is dedicated to Holocaust education, remembrance, documentation and research. For approximately twenty years, Yad Vashem"s International School for Holocaust Studies (ISHS) has been designing age-appropriate, interdisciplinary tools and techniques to teach about antisemitism and the Holocaust.   The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is the EU"s independent expert body on fundamental rights. Since 2007, it has been advising decision-makers in the EU on legal and practical rights issues. The agency also promotes awareness of fundamental rights in the EU and its Member States and works closely with civil society organisations. Together with its partners, the Agency is working to make fundamental rights a reality for everyone in the EU. Visit the related web page
	A victory against modern day slavery by Nisha Varia, Liesl Gerntholtz Human Rights Watch   Dec 2012   The ILO Domestic Workers Convention was unthinkable just a few years ago. It represents the culmination of years of effort by domestic workers, advocates, and officials to shine a spotlight on a long-ignored but significant sector of the workforce, says Nisha Varia.   If someone had told me 45 years ago that we would be here today, I would not have believed it. We do not have to be slaves anymore. — Myrtle Witbooi, chair of the International Domestic Workers Network and former domestic worker from South Africa, Geneva, June 10, 2011.   Growing activism against modern-day slavery has highlighted the abuse and exploitation suffered by millions of men, women, and children around the world. Donor funding has flowed to create shelters and services for victims while a proliferation of anti-trafficking legislation has focused on arresting and prosecuting traffickers.   Until recently the crucial role of prevention has enjoyed less visibility and support, but the growing domestic workers’ rights movement, and the development and adoption of a landmark treaty last year provides a promising example of how to move forward in the fight against forced labour.   While the break-up of an organized crime syndicate may seem a more obvious sign of progress, governments could make significant progress against modern-day slavery by ensuring robust, comprehensive legal frameworks protecting a range of human rights, including guarantees for labour protections as seemingly mundane as a minimum wage, a weekly day off, and limits to hours of work.   Overcoming initial scepticism and resistance, members of the International Labour Organization (ILO)—governments, trade unions, and employers’ associations—have done just that. On June 16, 2011, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new groundbreaking treaty that, for the first time, established global labour standards for the estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workersworldwide who clean, cook, and care for children, families, and the elderly in private households.   ILO Convention 189 Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers radically changes how domestic workers—the vast majority of whom are women and girls—and their work inside the home are valued, recognized, and protected. Its desperately needed and long overdue protections shake deeply entrenched gender discrimination in social and legal norms, and, in some countries, the lingering legacies of slavery.   I woke up at 5 a.m., cleaned the house and made breakfast for the children and worked all day. I went to sleep at 3 a.m. I never got a chance to rest…. The wife of the employer shouted and beat me every day…. The employer had my passport. The door was locked. I was not allowed to go out or even talk to the neighbours. I never received my salary. - Chain Channi, Cambodian domestic worker, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 12, 2011   In a review of 72 countries’ labour laws, the ILO found that 40 percent did not guarantee domestic workers a weekly rest day, and half did not limit hours of work. Many national child labour laws also exclude domestic workers, meaning employers can employ young children and make them labour for long hours, often at the cost of their education and health.   Over the past 12 years, Human Rights Watch’s research on domestic workers in countries as diverse as Indonesia,Saudi Arabia, the United States,Morocco,Guinea, and El Salvador has documented pervasive abuses and labour exploitation, including excessively long working hours without rest; unpaid wages for months or years; forced confinement in the workplace; food deprivation; verbal, physical, and sexual abuse; and forced labour including debt bondage and trafficking. Domestic workers, many of whom are migrants and at least 15.5 million of whom are children under the age of 18, who suffer such abuses typically have little access to redress.   Migrant domestic workers confront additional risks posed by language barriers, precarious immigration status, excessive recruitment fees, and employers’ confiscation of passports. Human Rights Watch investigations across Asia and the Middle East have documented the failure of many governments to monitor recruitment agencies that impose heavy debt burdens or to ensure that migrant domestic workers have access to courts, information about their rights, and support services when they face abuse.   Forging Global Labour Standards   The ILO convention was unthinkable just a few years ago. It represents the culmination of years of efforts by domestic workers, advocates, and officials to shine a spotlight on a long-ignored but significant sector of the workforce. These efforts focused on the ILO, with its unique tripartite structure in which workers’ groups, employers’ groups, and governments (183 countries are members) negotiate international standards, with all three component groups having a vote.   Speaking during the negotiations in Geneva, Maria Luisa Escorel, minister counsellor from the permanent mission of Brazil, Geneva, said: "The lack of protection for domestic workers represents a significant gap in the coverage of international labour standards…. Domestic workers around the world are looking to the ILC [International Labour Conference] to adopt a convention that would help to overcome past injustices and give domestic workers a better future."   Many governments initially expressed hesitation or direct opposition to a legally binding convention on domestic work, citing the impracticality of monitoring work in private households and their reluctance to add to a growing body of international labour standards, many of which had poor rates of ratification. However, lobbying by domestic workers’ organizations and NGOs, an ILO survey of laws and practices around the world, and compelling opening statements at the negotiations by the workers’ group and key governments made a strong case that the pervasive exploitation and abuse in this sector could no longer be neglected.   Some of the most contentious debates during the negotiations included regulation of employment agencies, elements of written contracts for domestic workers, provisions on social security and a healthy working environment, and how to account for working hours when domestic workers are not actively working but must be available to be “on-call.” Surprisingly, provisions on monitoring and inspections of private homes garnered little controversy during the final debate.   From the outset of negotiations, key governments provided decisive support, advocating strongly for binding standards that would extend equal labour protections to domestic workers. Delegates from Australia, Brazil, South Africa, the US, Argentina, and Uruguay spoke up repeatedly to introduce and defend strong provisions and to point to effective country-level examples of legislation and implementation.   As negotiations progressed, support for the convention grew. Some states with initially hostile attitudes changed their positions as they heard evidence of the abuses against domestic workers and concrete examples of how legislation in a diverse array of countries could improve domestic workers’rights. Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia), along with Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India, reversed early opposition to a legally binding convention and expressed support in the final vote.   In the end, on June 16, 2011, the newly negotiated standards won overwhelming support, with 396 delegates (representing governments, workers, and employers’ associations) voting for the convention, 16 voting against, and 63 abstaining. Swaziland was the only government to vote against the convention.   The ILO Domestic Workers convention guarantees domestic workers labour protections equivalent to those of other workers, including for working hours, minimum wage coverage, overtime compensation, daily and weekly rest periods, social security, and maternity leave. The new standards oblige governments to address the minimum age for children in domestic work and their right to attend school, protect domestic workers from violence and abuse, regulate recruitment agencies and fees, and set out measures for effective monitoring and enforcement.   Translating Standards into Change on the Ground   While we celebrate this historic moment, we also know that there are many challenges to face in our struggle to ensure that these rights, now enshrined in Convention form, are upheld, protected, and defended. - Migrant Forum in Asia, statement, Manila, June 16, 2011   Adopting a new convention is only the first step in a long, difficult campaign for widespread ratification and implementation. Encouragingly, although the process is slow, many countries are reviewing and revising their national legislation to bring it into conformity with the convention. Dozens of countries worldwide have submitted the convention to the appropriate national authorities for review. Uruguay, the Philippines, and Mauritius have been the first to ratify the convention, which will become legally binding in September 2013, and several Latin American countries will likely complete their formal ratification processes soon.   Whether governments are close to ratifying the convention or not, they will feel pressure to respect the standards it sets forth. For example, several countries are in the process of adopting legislation on domestic work, such as Kuwait, the UAE, Lebanon, and Indonesia, and they will consult the standards as they finalize their laws. Singapore and Malaysia, two of the nine countries that abstained when the convention was adopted, will find it in their interest to introduce reforms anyway to remain an attractive destination for migrant domestic workers who can increasingly opt for better working conditions and pay elsewhere. After years of rejecting the need for reform, Singapore finally agreed to require a weekly rest day for domestic workers.   Discrimination and exploitative practices are deeply entrenched and recognition and respect for domestic workers’ rights will not improve overnight. To make the new standards count, advocates must strengthen efforts at the national level to replicate their success in Geneva. They must also raise public awareness among key constituencies such as national labour officials, employers, trade unions, and the media. They will then need to build momentum around ILO ratification and related legislative reforms.   Because the strength and diversity of the domestic workers’movement varies greatly by country and region, another priority is to provide international support to national and regional groups as needed. This may entail defending freedom of association for domestic workers, providing financial and organizational support to fledgling groups, or building alliances among domestic workers, labour, migrants, women’s rights, and children’s rights organizations.   Finally, dissemination of best practices and lessons learned, particularly on experiences with successfully enforcing domestic worker protections, will be crucial for ensuring that strong global standards turn into concrete improvements in local practices.   Governments may never be able to count the number of women and girls who escape getting trapped into domestic servitude due to better labour standards. But by closing gaps in legal protections and enforcement, they will no longer be providing employers the tacit permission and leeway that has allowed exploitation of domestic workers to flourish.   May 2012   The invisibility of domestic workers, by Liesl Gerntholtz.   "What is particularly striking about domestic workers is their invisibility. Once they come to the country, they disappear into people’s homes", says Liesl Gerntholtz, Executive Director of the Women"s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.   One of the major problems they have found in their latest research (mainly in Asia and the Middle East) is that labor law does not recognize domestic workers as workers, so they are therefore not well protected.   "More typically we find that they don’t have days off – they are not paid properly, they are forced to work very long hours and in unhealthy conditions. In South Africa the law does apply to domestic workers. They are entitled to leave, a minimum wage, a number of protections all workers have. That is why I say South Africa is ahead of the curve – we just hope they will take a leadership role on the convention. And encourage their allies to do the same."   In a very thorough and insightful report, HRW - who has been doing research on the issue of domestic workers for the last seven years - looked specifically at women who migrated from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. After travelling many countries to find the truth and tell the story of this vulnerable group of women, Gerntholtz says that even though these women have come from many different places, they are all suffering the same violations and mistreatment.   "The thing that really struck me was it didn’t seem to matter where the women came from or where they went, but the violations that they faced were very similar. Because they are such a vulnerable class of employees, employers were able to get away with appalling behaviour. Violations related to employment conditions. Women having no time off at all and working long hours like six until two in the morning. Sleeping in bad conditions, not having a bedroom, sleeping on the floor in the kitchen."   "We also came across some serious physical violations including rape, sexual assault, and physical violence. And what struck me most when I met workers in Lebanon was that many knew of women who had worked as domestic workers and had committed suicide because their situation was so unbearable."   Because they are such a vulnerable class of employees, employers were able to get away with appalling behaviour.   A lot of the women leave their countries to earn more money and give their children a better life. Some of these women were not allowed to go back home. Their employers would take their passports so they couldn’t leave. A painful thing for Gerntholtz to hear, and the fact that "they were also not able to have contact with their families, some had not spoken to their children in two or three years." They were literally being held prisoner. Many people who migrate for employment undergo very difficult situations.   What is particularly striking about domestic workers is their invisibility. Once they come to the country, they disappear into people’s homes. If they can’t leave the homes, they can’t seek out resources to help them, find out if there are shelters, or talk to their embassies about leaving the country.   Even though they face a tough road, Gerntholtz says there is hope: "What is also good to say at this point on having worked on these issues for so long is that there has been progress. The convention is the climax of a lot of advocacy and activism that has happened in Asia and Latin America, and to a lesser extent in Africa.   We have also seen a growth of movements of former domestic workers, human rights NGOs taking up these issues as part of their activism and we see increasingly that governments are taking protections for their citizens much more seriously. For example, Sri Lanka has built two shelters in Riyadh.   Many Middle East countries have a lot of migrant domestic workers from Asia. There is a huge appetite for domestic workers in the Middle East. The migrants come in legally but they often come from rural areas so they don’t speak the language of the country they are going to which is a huge barrier for them. Gerntholtz says they are often poorly educated and vulnerable, driven to take these jobs and seek out these opportunities through poverty. "They are women that cannot survive in their own countries and have heard that you can make good money doing domestic work in these countries (Middle East)."   "It is a huge business both in terms of the money that is made in sending these women out and very importantly the money that the women send back home. The women who are being paid send a huge amount of money back home every year to support their families."   Hopefully all the research and findings will be adopted into law and domestic workers worldwide can enjoy the rights that are entitled to all workers. All humans have rights and they should be protected.   *Gerntholtz was in South Africa last week for meetings with government, labour unions, and donors to talk about their latest report and research on maternal mortality and domestic labor law issues for domestic workers*. Visit the related web page
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