• US: Senate Vote on Violence Against Women Act a Victory
    Press release
    Apr 26, 2012
    The US House of Representatives should move quickly to renew the Violence against Women Act (VAWA), Human Rights Watch said today. The US Senate, in a bipartisan vote on April 26, 2012, passed the bill, the primary federal law providing legal protection and services to counter domestic and sexual violence and stalking.
  • Asia/Middle East: Increase Protections for Migrant Workers
    Press release
    Apr 15, 2012
    Labor ministers from 19 Asian and Middle Eastern countries should endorse protections for migrant workers and increase dialogue with civil society, Migrant Forum Asia and Human Rights Watch said today. The ministers are meeting in Manila from April 17 to 19, 2012, as part of the second round of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue, an inter-regional consultation between labor-sending countries and labor-receiving countries on contractual migrant workers.
  • Indonesia: Parliament Approves Migrant Workers Convention
    Press release
    Apr 12, 2012

    Indonesia’s ratification of the Migrant Workers Convention will bring new protections for millions of Indonesian migrant workers, Migrant Care and Human Rights Watch said today. The Indonesian parliament adopted the international treaty on April 12, 2012, without reservations in a plenary session.

  • Saudi Arabia: A Step to Aid Migrant Workers
    Press release
    Apr 10, 2012
    The Saudi Labor Ministry’s proposal to abolish the employer-based “sponsorship” system is a positive step for migrant workers. The system fuels human rights abuses against migrants by tying their legal residency in the country to one employer.
  • Lebanon: Stop Abuse of Domestic Workers
    Press release
    Mar 23, 2012
    Lebanese authorities should act quickly to reform restrictive visa regulations and adopt a labor law on domestic work to address high levels of abuse and deaths among migrant domestic workers. The government should also announce publicly the outcome of the investigation into the recent abuse and subsequent suicide of Alem Dechasa-Desisa, an Ethiopian domestic worker.
  • An abhorrent trail of abuse
    Commentary
    Jan 24, 2012
    At least nine Cambodian women died last year while performing domestic work in Malaysia. And the grim reality is that, without strong action by the Cambodian and Malaysian governments to rein in exploitative recruitment and employment practices, more lives will be lost in 2012.
  • Cambodia/ Malaysia: Domestic Workers Face Abuse
    Press release
    Oct 31, 2011
    The Cambodian and Malaysian governments’ failure to regulate recruiters and employers leaves Cambodian migrant domestic workers exposed to a wide range of abuses. Tens of thousands of Cambodian women and girls who migrate to Malaysia have little protection against forced confinement in training centers, heavy debt burdens, and exploitative working conditions.
  • Cambodia: Overhaul Protections for Migrant Domestic Workers
    Press release
    Oct 14, 2011
    Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s proposed ban on sending domestic workers to Malaysia should be accompanied by a major overhaul in protections for these workers. On October 14, 2011, Hun Sen promised an opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, to halt migration in the wake of repeated complaints of abuse during recruitment in Cambodia and employment in Malaysia.
  • Migrant Domestic Workers in Jordan
    Commentary
    Oct 12, 2011

    The fate of millions of migrant workers in the Middle East has been all but forgotten amid the Arab Spring. Migrant domestic workers, the nannies and housekeepers from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Indonesia, desperately need another revolution.

  • Jordan: Domestic Worker Protections Ineffective
    Press release
    Sep 27, 2011
    Jordan needs to enforce the legal protections for migrant domestic workers it has put in place over the past three years, Human Rights Watch and the Tamkeen Center for Legal Aid said in a joint report issued today. New laws and regulations since 2008 give domestic workers the right to regulated working hours and a weekly day off, and criminalize people trafficking, but enforcement remains negligible, the organizations said.