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	Homes Double as Workplaces for Many Urban Poor, Especially Women by Marty Alter Chen Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)   Oct. 2021   Globally, pre-COVID-19, 260 million women and men produced goods or provided services from in or around their homes: 86 per cent (224 million) were in developing and emerging countries and 14 per cent (35 million) in developed countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless other workers – mainly white-collar workers – began working remotely from home using the internet.   There are significant differences between the typical “old” and the typical “new” home-based workers: differences by type of work (professional and administrative versus labor-intensive manufacturing and low-end services), by class (middle and upper class versus working class) and by residence (larger homes in middle-class neighborhoods versus small homes in low-income neighborhoods or informal settlements).   But the key difference is that many “old” home-based workers lost their work and income during the COVID-19 pandemic recession as the demand for their goods and services declined, while the “new” home-based workers could continue to work and collect paychecks. Compared to other informal workers, these “old” home-based workers suffered greater declines in work and earnings and were less able to recover during the pandemic recession.   A WIEGO-led longitudinal study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic recession on informal workers – conducted in 11 cities around the world – found that home-based workers suffered the greatest decline in work and earnings during the peak lockdowns/restrictions in April 2020 and were least able to recover by mid-2020, compared to domestic workers, street vendors/market traders and waste pickers. By mid-2021, between 80-90 per cent of the three other groups had been able to resume work, compared to 65 per cent of home-based workers.   It should be noted that the recovery in earnings was lower than the recovery of work for all four groups in both mid-2020 and mid-2021; and that all groups had depleted their savings and gone deeper into debt.   The COVID-19 pandemic recession not only had a disproportionate impact on informal workers, especially home-based workers, but also exposed and exacerbated the structural constraints informal workers faced before the crisis.   In the case of home-based workers, the key constraints included the small size, poor quality and insecure tenure of their homes which double as workplaces; the lack of basic infrastructure services for their homes-cum-workplaces; insecure access to work orders (if sub-contracted) and buyers or customers (if self-employed); and unfavorable terms of employment or trade.   To highlight the challenges faced by “old” home-based workers as well as efforts to address these challenges, the WIEGO network commissioned documentation of the work of the Mahila Housing Trust, a sister institution of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India, to secure tenure and provide basic infrastructure services, water, electricity and sanitation, to homes in informal settlements, including homes which double as workplaces; and commissioned a mapping of the clusters of home-based workers in Delhi, India, showing the links to industrial parks and wholesale markets which outsource work to them.   Documenting the work of the Mahila Housing Trust   The Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT) has been working for more than 25 years to improve the quality of homes in informal settlements in Indian cities. MHT’s interventions range from promoting household access to water, electricity and sanitation at scale, improving the design and layout of homes to accommodate specific work and storage needs, advocating for tenure in Delhi’s resettlement colonies and, more recently, advocating for better and safer transport connectivity to poor settlements in Ahmedabad – all of which have wide ranging impacts on the wellbeing and economic productivity of home-based workers.   MHT uses three interlinked strategies for making home-based environments safer, healthier, and more productive. These are: 1) improving the physical environment, 2) promoting energy efficiency and climate resilience, and 3) incorporating the needs of the home-based workers in city plans and policies.   One of the home-based workers supported by MHT to improve her living and working conditions is Meenaben. With her family, she lived in a house with little daylight and a tin sheet roof that was hot in summer and leaked when it rained, damaging her raw materials and finished goods, preventing her from taking on more work given the worry that it would get ruined.   Over the years, with MHT’s support, Meenaben installed a new roof with solar panels for electricity and built a storeroom for her materials. Having worked with MHT as a community leader since 2004, she now engages with local government to improve the living and working conditions of others in her community.   Mapping clusters of home-based workers in Delhi   The geography or spatiality of where informal workers live and work in the city is very important for policy advocacy. Under its Focal Cities initiative, WIEGO’s Delhi team has extensively documented how individual homes and the larger informal settlements where workers live double up as their workspaces. Together with the Social Design Collaborative, they highlighted different aspects of home-based work in the mapping of clusters of home-based work across Delhi – indicating the settlement typologies (slums and bastis, urban villages, resettlement colonies, unauthorized settlements), density of built form, and where the nearest suppliers and buyers (wholesale markets, industrial parks) are located.   It also deep-dives to a micro-scale to show the flow of work and goods at the neighbourhood level as well as the many issues that women workers face due to the small size and lack of basic services of the homes where they work.   An example of the livelihood challenges faced by the poor when they are evicted and shifted from the city’s center to the peripheries, is the story of Savda Ghevra, a resettlement colony in the western edge of Delhi. The residents of Savda Ghevra, all urban poor, were suddenly relocated in 2006 to this remote resettlement area, where housing, transport and physical infrastructure had to be built from scratch – with the help of MHT.   HomeNet International is a global federation of 36 organizations of home-based workers from 20 countries with a total membership of over 600,000. These resources are designed to support the affiliates of HomeNet International, and other organizations home-based workers, in advocating for secure tenure and basic infrastructure services, including electricity and other sources of energy, at their homes-cum-workplaces.   http://www.wiego.org/blog/homes-double-workplaces-many-urban-poor-especially-women http://www.wiego.org/blog http://www.wiego.org/publications/social-dialogue-transition-informal-formal-economy   * ILO: Women and men in the informal economy 2023: http://bit.ly/3mtGXSF   * ILO/WIEGO: Women and men in the informal economy 2019: http://bit.ly/41QVxUy Visit the related web page
	International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict by UN News, MSF, OHCHR, agencies   International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict - Statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres:   Sexual violence in conflict is a cruel tactic of war, torture, terror and repression. It reverberates down generations, and threatens both human and international security.   In places affected by conflict, the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more difficult to hold perpetrators of sexual violence to account.   At the same time, survivors face new obstacles to reporting crimes and accessing support services.   Even as we respond to the pandemic, we must investigate every case, and maintain essential services for every survivor. We cannot allow this already underreported crime to slip further into the shadows. Perpetrators must be punished.   Investment in recovery from the pandemic must tackle the root causes of sexual and gender-based violence.   On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, let’s resolve to uphold the rights and meet the needs of all survivors, as we work to prevent and end these horrific crimes.   “Conflict-related sexual violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. The term also encompasses trafficking in persons when committed in situations of conflict for the purpose of sexual violence or exploitation.   A consistent concern is that fear and cultural stigma converge to prevent the vast majority of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence from coming forward to report such violence. Practitioners in the field estimate that for each rape reported in connection with a conflict, 10 to 20 cases go undocumented.   UN Women expresses its grave concern at the continued use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, terrorism and political repression and calls on all parties to conflicts to commit to ceasing such acts.   Sexual violence in conflict disproportionately impacts women and girls and causes grave and lasting harm to survivors, their families and their communities, posing major barriers to peace and development.   The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed women and girls in conflict and crisis settings to sexual violence and has exacerbated existing barriers to survivors’ access to multisectoral services and justice.   This makes our efforts to promote gender equality and achieve peace, as well as just and inclusive societies, all the more urgent and relevant.   The best way to address any type of human rights violation, including sexual violence in conflict, is to prevent it from happening in the first place, which is why it is crucial to address gender inequality as a root cause of this scourge.   As the world plans its recovery from the pandemic, we need to take an inclusive, intersectional and informed approach, one that recognizes that achieving durable peace and prosperous societies is not possible without women’s expertise, meaningful participation and leadership.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/conflict-related-sexual-violence-report-secretary-general-s2023413-enarruzh   * UN Resolution (A/RES/69/293): On 19 June 2015, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 19 June of each year the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, in order to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/south-sudan-un-report-highlights-widespread-sexual-violence-against-women http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/tools-and-resources/conflict-related-sexual-violence-gender-based-violence-against-women http://www.msf.org/thousands-survivors-sexual-violence-need-physical-and-psychological-care-drc http://www.msf.org/sexual-violence http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2021/8/611618344/unhcr-gravely-concerned-systematic-sexual-violence-dr-congos-tanganyika.html http://panzifoundation.org/the-crisis/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/ethiopia-troops-and-militia-rape-abduct-women-and-girls-in-tigray-conflict-new-report/ http://bit.ly/3djYepu http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/ http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/report/conflict-related-sexual-violence-report-of-the-united-nations-secretary-general/SG-Report-2020editedsmall.pdf http://bit.ly/2URrMVo http://kvinnatillkvinna.org/2022/06/19/we-must-keep-talking-about-rape-in-war/   Nov. 2021   Do more to support children born of rape in armed conflict and their mothers, UN committees urge States. (OHCHR)   Children born as a result of rape committed in armed conflict must be given better help and support, while women who survive sexual violence require comprehensive protection by the State, two UN committees urged in a joint statement.   "Children born of rape in the context of armed conflict and their mothers are stigmatized, isolated, and deprived of resources. They face discrimination in many ways and on many fronts, as well as marginalization by their own communities," the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Child Rights Committee (CRC) said.   The Committees noted these children often do not have their births registered, and this lack of official documentation in turn often affects their right to a nationality.   "These obstacles can adversely affect a child's human rights, continuing into adulthood, as they can encounter huge problems integrating into society," they added.   The two committees called on States parties to comply with their obligations under both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.   Given the risk of children being rendered stateless, the Committees urged Governments to ensure that children born of rape are registered with a nationality. "In addition, abandoned children should have access to care services," the Committees stressed.   The Committees also highlighted the high levels of violence to which girls are often subjected in conflict situations. "States parties should make all efforts to rescue girls who have been abducted, ensure their integration into society and provide them and their families with access to psychosocial and other rehabilitation services," they said.   CEDAW and the CRC called for accountability for all forms of gender-based violence against women and children, including sexual violence and exploitation, sexual slavery, domestic servitude, child and forced marriage, as well as the recruitment and use of children during insurgencies and in other slavery-like practices.   They also emphasized the importance of upholding the rights of women and children as central pillars for building and sustaining peace in societies.   CEDAW and CRC are collaborating with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict to support the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security/sexual violence in conflict. http://bit.ly/32s89Hx   http://www.ohchr.org/en/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/PeaceAndSecurity.aspx http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2021/6/statement-un-women-day-for-the-elimination-of-sexual-violence-in-conflict http://bit.ly/3ernJWV http://theconversation.com/uk/topics/sexual-violence-in-conflict-10963 Visit the related web page
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