On August 2-4,2005, in Marikina Riverbank Hotel, the Philippines will gather local and overseas domestic workers to talk about their problems and the possible solutions. This first ever process of putting forward concerns of local household helpers as their relate to their overseas counterpart hopes to achieve stronger national commitment to protect their rights.

Click here to download recent version of concept paper. (as of May 16, 2005)

The National Summit is designed to elevate the level of discussions on programs and policies for domestic worker at the national policy-making level.  It is a pioneering initiative to provide domestic workers, their leaders and advocates, employers associations, government, and other social partners in a constructive engagement to formulate a genuine National Agenda for Domestic Workers.

The National Summit aims to: 

1. Provide domestic workers, their organizations and support networks, with a venue to ventilate issues and concerns regarding their sector
2. Facilitate interaction and discussions between domestic workers and social partners towards development of policy and program recommendations that would address issues and concerns of the domestic work sector
3. Generate concrete commitments from social partners towards institutionalization of policy and program recommendations

The Summit results will include:

• A National Agenda for Domestic Workers – a set of policy and program recommendations that will address priority issues and concerns identified by the sector
• A Social Compact – a document that will be subscribed in by social partners, describing the process of constructive engagement between social partners and domestic workers towards mainstreaming of identified priority issues and concerns
• Concrete commitments from Social Partners and Domestic Workers on actions towards the adoption/institutionalization of the National Agenda

Prior to the Summit, a process should be instituted in order to finalize the themes and agenda for the Summit.  This will ensure that discussions will be narrowed down to specific, actionable areas. Initial consultations with SUMAPI, resulted in the identification of key areas for discussions:

A.      Labor Standards and Working Conditions – although the Labor Code and other instruments provide for minimum labor standards for household helpers, these standards are already outdated and are poorly implemented.  There is a need to look at the minimum working conditions of Domestic Workers within the ILO Decent Work Framework

B.     Enforcement Mechanisms and Protection – there is a need to review existing enforcement mechanisms, specifically on ensuring compliance with minimum standards, contracts, recruitment procedures, and on ensuring prompt and appropriate responses to violations of rights for both domestic workers in the Philippines and those working overseas

C.     Education and Skills Acquisition – existing programs have to be upgraded and made more accessible and useful to domestic workers.  This is also in line with the goal of “professionalizing” the sector.

D.     Reintegration – for both working overseas and in the Philippines (especially internal migrants), it is necessary to look at how to mitigate push factors by opening up services and programs at source areas, including alternative economic opportunities, counseling, and mentoring for either returning OFWs or repatriated internal migrants

E.     Children in Domestic Work – a special concern, policy and program reforms will have to look at protective and preventive mechanisms in line with anti-child labor laws and international commitments

F.      Recruitment, Placement, and Protection against Trafficking – existing recruitment and placement requirements should be reviewed in order to make sure that these are indeed able to protect domestic workers against trafficking

G.     Sectoral organizing and participation in decision-making – in order to institutionalize gains, domestic workers have to organize and to seek representation in decision-making bodies at the national, local, and international levels.