Recommendations

To the Moroccan Government

• Strictly enforce 15 as the minimum age for all employment, including for domestic work, and impose appropriate penalties on both employers and labor recruiters who employ or recruit children under the age of 15;
• Amend the proposed domestic worker law to ensure compliance with ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (2011), and present the law to Parliament for adoption;  in particular, amend the draft law to ensure:
  • Limits to hours of work, equivalent to those for other workers, with additional limits on the working hours of children between the ages of 15 and 18 to ensure proper rest, education and training, leisure time, and family contact;
  • Minimum wage coverage equivalent to other workers;
  • A strict limit to the proportion of remuneration that may be paid “in-kind” (e.g. room and board).
• Continue and expand public awareness campaigns to educate both sending families and potential employers of laws prohibiting the employment of children under the age of 15, and the risks of such employment to child domestic workers; engage the media in such campaigns;
• Create an effective monitoring system, involving police, social workers, educators, local NGOs, and local authorities to identify children under the age of 15 who have entered domestic work and children between 15 and 18 who may be subject to abuse or conditions that constitute the worst forms of child labor;
• Create an effective and accessible complaints mechanism for child domestic workers and others to report violations against child domestic workers, and ensure that the hotline managed by the National Observatory of Child Rights is widely publicized via television, radio, and public notices in transportation centers, schools, post offices, telephone offices, and other public locations;
• Investigate cases of underage employment or abuse of child domestic workers, authorizing police, social workers, and/or labor inspectors to enter employers’ homes when child domestic labor is suspected, and to withdraw children who are under age 15 or who have been subject to abuse;
• Consistent with the proposed domestic worker law, ensure that employers of child domestic workers below the age of 18 but above the age of 15 file written contracts with labor authorities; implement special measures to monitor conditions for domestic workers under the age of 18, including employment conditions that may jeopardize their health or safety or interfere with opportunities to participate in further education and training;

To Morocco’s Parliament

• Adopt the proposed domestic workers law, making necessary amendments to ensure compliance with ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (2011); 
• Ratify ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (2011).

To the Ministry of Employment and Professional Training

• Implement mechanisms to better monitor possible underage employment of domestic workers, for example, through home visits with the consent of employers or by interviewing child domestic workers regarding their working conditions at local labor offices;
• Upon adoption of the proposed domestic worker law, establish mechanisms to verify the ages for  domestic workers between ages 15 and 18 whose contracts have been deposited with labor authorities; and that authorization of their guardian has been obtained;
• Actively investigate reports of employers or intermediaries who employ or recruit children under the age of 15 and impose appropriate penalties, as allowed by law;
• Report cases of underage employment to the police or other authorities to allow the removal of children illegally employed and their return to their homes or appropriate shelters or hosting arrangements;
• Report cases of physical or other abuse of child domestic workers to police and prosecutors for investigation and possible prosecution;
• Continue and increase support for NGOs working to eliminate child domestic labor and to assist child domestic workers who have been employed illegally or victim to violence or exploitation.

To the Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family, and Social Development

• Provide shelters and medical and social services, as appropriate, for child domestic workers who have been subject to abuse or exploitation to facilitate their rehabilitation, entry into school, and reunification with their family, when it is in the child’s best interests. Establish alternative long-term hosting arrangements for former child domestic workers when reunification with the family is not possible or in the best interests of the child;
• Complete a comprehensive survey to establish an accurate estimate of the number of all domestic workers in Morocco, disaggregated by sex, age, geographic origin, and geographic location of employment;
• Continue and increase support for NGOs working to eliminate child domestic labor and to assist child domestic workers who have been employed illegally or victim to violence or exploitation;
• Coordinate with other ministries to ensure that families of children who have been removed from child domestic labor are benefiting from appropriate social welfare schemes, such as the Tayssir program.

To the Ministry of Justice

• Prosecute individuals under the Moroccan Criminal Code who are responsible for violence or other criminal offenses against child domestic workers;
• Collect and publish data on prosecutions of individuals for abuse or exploitation of domestic workers, disaggregated by sex and age of the worker.

To the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Development, and Scientific Research

• Ensure that all children under the age of 15 enjoy their right to a free and compulsory basic education, continuing and expanding initiatives which are designed to increase school enrollment, particularly among girls who are vulnerable to child domestic labor;
• Develop specific strategies to ensure that domestic workers above age 15 but below the age of 18 have opportunities to continue their schooling if they desire;
• At the local level, provide regular reports to labor inspectors or other relevant authorities regarding children who are not attending school and may be employed in domestic labor for follow-up intervention and investigation.

To International Donors, including the United States, France, and Belgium

• Support programs designed to prevent the entry of girls under age 15 into domestic work and to identify, withdraw, and provide assistance to girls who have been employed under the minimum age or have experienced violence or exploitation;
• Support adoption and implementation of a national law on domestic workers.

To the International Labour Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

• Continue and, as feasible, expand projects aimed to prevent girls from entering child domestic labor and effective implementation of Moroccan law prohibiting the employment of children under age 15.