E-Bulletin October 2019 - News from our member organisations
Exhibition: Nit in Transit – Cecile in Exile – Dora in Diaspora
In September, Ban Ying celebrated its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1989, the organisation runs two main services: a counselling centre for migrant women and a safe house for women victims of violence, exploitation and trafficking, with or without a legal status. The women assisted by Ban Ying come from more than 70 countries but the organisation places special focus on women from Thailand and the Philippines who were their initial service users thirty years ago (ban ying means “women’s house” in Thai).
To mark this anniversary, Ban Ying organised the exhibition Nit in Transit – Cecile in Exile – Dora in Diaspora, which was shown in the Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte in Berlin throughout September. The artwork was provided by two of Ban Ying’s linguistic and cultural mediators - Krisanta Caguioa-Mönnich from the Philippines and Bussaraporn Thongchai from Thailand – who, in their daily work, are in close contact with the clients of the organisation.
Against the background of their own migration stories, the two artists interpret and transform the ways in which the organisation’s clients interact with their migration experiences in paintings and collages. The clients were partly involved in the creative process. The migration stories of Nit, Cecile and Dora stand for the many routes, experiences and lives that flow together in Ban Ying, which the artists hold in their works and process - and their own artistic approaches.
The art project consisted of a series of acrylic paintings on canvas accompanied by texts, and another series of watercolour postcards. The paintings depict women who are part of Ban Ying. These portraits are accompanied by texts that come directly from every woman in the picture. The series is a form of expression of identity, thoughts and feelings. The postcard series shows items that have an important role and meaning in their lives.
Detaining Victims: Human Trafficking and the UK Immigration System
In July FLEX published a new report Detaining Victims: Human Trafficking and the UK Immigration System. The report, based on interviews with members of the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG), literature review, and Freedom of Information requests, describes the issues experienced by victims of human trafficking while in immigration detention in the UK. It explores the main barriers to identification of victims prior to and while in detention, as well as the impact of detention on National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision-making and on victims’ physical and mental well-being. It sets out recommendations on how to make improvements in all four of these areas.
LEAG members have identified at least 143 detained victims of trafficking, including ones who have been detained after receiving positive reasonable grounds decisions under the NRM. This demonstrates that the UK is in breach of various international responsibilities, including the responsibility to support victims in their physical, psychological and social recovery. LEAG is deeply concerned that victims of human trafficking are being treated first as immigration offenders and secondly as victims, which is leading to long-term and severe consequences to their health and the outcomes of their victim status under the NRM.
Due to the evidence identified in the report, FLEX and ten other organisations formed the Taskforce on Victims of Trafficking in Immigration Detention. The taskforce will work with the UK government to seek an end to the detention of victims of trafficking under immigration powers and will advocate for vital changes to government policy and practice regarding this issue.
Recognition, respect and valuation of women’s work: A foundation of prosperous Nepal
The Government of Nepal has adopted a socialist economic model, committed to abide by Sustainable Development Goals, introduced social security policy and has amended the Labor Act 2074 (2017) to formalise informal work. These are commendable steps. However, there is no clarity on how women’s care work can be recognised and valued, which means that women who are working at home or involved in care work cannot be covered by the social security scheme.
With this in mind, in August, the Nepali National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders (NAWHRD) in collaboration with WOREC, WOFOWON, Mahila Ekta Samaj, NDWA, Tarangini Foundation, and Pourakhi organised a national workshop Recognition, respect and valuation of women’s work: A foundation of prosperous Nepal. The aim of the workshop was to bring a change in the perceptions towards the work done by women and to establish women’s work as decent work. It involved 90 representatives from civil society organisations, trade unions, ILO Nepal and women workers from different sectors such as domestic work, entertainment and tourism.
Dr Renu Adhikari, chair of NAWHRD and former Board member of GAATW stated that all work done by women, including domestic and care work, has economic value and needs to be considered as work because one could hire a person to perform it. The definition of work should be broadened as “Any activity that human being performs to sustain their life”; however, that is not happening. Patriarchy has created different structures whereby women’s work is restricted and devalued. These same structures have control over women’s work, body and mobility. Thus it is important for women to come together and challenge patriarchal structures of power and have their work recognised and valued.
The Hon. Dr Binda Pandey, Parliamentarian, ILO Governing Body and member of GEFONT stated that unpaid care work is not recognised, organised or even considered as decent work. Unpaid care work is the main obstacle preventing women from getting into, remaining and progressing in the labour force. She further stated that care work should also be counted in the upcoming census report of the country. For this, women need to be united and speak out about their rights.
The workers participating in the workshop brought out different issues they are facing and suggested actions to resolve those issues. It was emphasised that no matter in which sector, women are raising their voice to be recognised, decriminalised and protected by law. At the end of the workshop, all the three sectors of women workers formed a network called “Sharmgivi Mahila Sanjal” to collectively take up the issue of women’s work, its value and respect as one of the important issues of the women’s movement.
Campaign #Nevremezazene (Bad weather for women) in Serbia
ASTRA – Anti-Trafficking Action, the Autonomous Women’s Center and Women in Black, in cooperation with Feminist Cultural Center BeFem, launched a campaign to promote the CEDAW Concluding Observations for Serbia. The aim of this campaign is to point out the inadequate approach of the state toward women’s rights, and particularly toward the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations concerning the elimination of all forms of discrimination of women and ensuring their enjoyment of rights. In the campaign, a series of informative videos and visuals present common stereotypes about women, violence against women, human trafficking, education, women’s health and the national gender equality mechanism.
Another campaign launched by ASTRA – “Labour exploitation is real” – aims to improve the protection of Serbian youth going for temporary work abroad, suppress illegal work and promote the responsibility of employment intermediaries for the truthfulness of the advertised working conditions and the implementation of supervision in the recruitment process. The campaign is based on an analysis of the conditions enabling labour exploitation of young people. Other issues the recommendations touch upon are a reduction of abuse in youth co-operatives, changes in the way of performing temporary and occasional jobs, as well as the changes in criminal legislation.
Protecting the rights of domestic workers in Nepal
There are over 160,000 domestic workers in Nepal, most of them women, who in many cases work round the clock with no proper place to sleep and rest with no minimum wage and a weekly day off. Most of them are made to sleep and rest either on the kitchen floor or in corridors. Many domestic workers are minors below 18 years of age. In 2017, the Government of Nepal recognised domestic workers through the Labor Act, which means that domestic workers have same rights as other formal workers. The Act also provides for a minimum remuneration, public holidays and weekly days off. However, the basic rights of domestic workers to minimum wages and standard contract are yet to be included in the regulatory policies and practice. Furthermore, the Nepal government has banned women from travelling for domestic work to the Gulf countries following reports of widespread sexual abuse and exploitation. However, the ban has led to more precarity because women migrate through irregular routes.
On 16 June, International Domestic Workers Day, AMKAS Nepal and the National Network for Safe Migration organised a workshop bringing in migrant and internal domestic workers, CSOs, trade unions, government representatives, media and policy makers to discuss the issues of Nepali domestic workers both within the country and abroad in line with ILO Convention 189.
All participants, including the government representatives and parliamentarians, expressed their support for the ratification of C189. As concrete future steps, they asked for it to be translated into Nepali and asked advocates to present them with a draft policy on domestic work. The lifting of the ban on domestic workers’ migration to the Gulf was also identified as an urgent need and parliamentarians promised to push for this in the House. Participants also published a press release calling for the immediate lifting of the ban.
Trafficking 101: A community resource for sex workers’ rights activists
The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) published a new resource titled ‘Trafficking 101’. The purpose of this community resource is to increase the understanding of sex worker rights organisations of human trafficking policies and priorities in Europe and Central Asia. The document has the ambition to be as brief as possible and thus picks only some aspects of trafficking. The text explains the definitions and terms used in international human trafficking policies and presents reasons why the definitions are still challenging even after nearly 20 years of their introduction. Furthermore, the resource summarises what can indicate human trafficking according to international standards. As human trafficking is broadly considered as a gross violation of human rights, the document also gives an overview of the rights that all victims of trafficking should enjoy, accompanied by short descriptions of challenges in their realisation.