ACCEPTANCE SPEECH DELIVERED BY SR. JEANNE DEVOS:
Respected Chief Guest Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad , Guests of Honour and Special Guests,
Mr Nanik Rupani Chairperson and co and vice chairpersons and managing committee members
Dear Friends,
Thank you for this Ramakrishna Bajaj Memorial Global award. It is an honour to me and to the National Domestic Workers Movement for being recognized for our contribution to humanity. It means a lot to me and all our Domestic workers and leaders in whose name I accept it as an appreciation of their service, their strength and perseverance and for the creativity of children in domestic work. Together for 27 years we have travelled the long journey of collective struggle to get dignity and justice for domestic work and domestic workers.
Domestic work is one of the oldest and most important occupations for millions of
women in India . It is rooted in a history of slavery, bonded labour, colonialism, caste, feudal relationships and other forms of servitude. It was reinforced from generation to generation as a form of slavery.
In contemporary India domestic work is in high demand and the fastest growing job, but
domestic workers remain a vulnerable group, underpaid and unprotected, victims of exploitation, discrimination, physical, emotional and psychological and sexual abuse.
Trafficking of women and children for domestic work is still very common. The trafficking takes different forms of buying and selling by agents, false promises of good jobs, care etc.
2012 has been mentioned as the year of dreams. We at NDWM would never have dreamed of a Pryadarshni award. The 27years journey with NDWM has proved that in a process of working with participation, change is possible.
All over India in different states and languages NDWM has thousands of action groups of domestic workers and parliaments of children still working as domestic workers and trying education as well.
In collective strength we work for dignity of work and persons, for rights and for empowerment.
We achieved dignity and a name for domestic work and workers; we have empowered lakhs of domestic workers to fight for their rights and dignity. We were instrumental in Lobbying with the Central Government for the inclusion of domestic workers in the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill 2010 voted by the Lok Sabha a few weeks ago. Enacting the Sexual Harassment Bill is a boost for the lakhs of domestic workers to protect them from abuse at the work place.
Participation in the National Advisory Council and Task Force of the Ministry of Labour to frame National Policy for domestic workers is our landmark contribution.
And in 2011 the ILO convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (ILO Convention) was adopted by 183 countries at theILO Labour Conference in Geneva and supported by our Indian government, opening it up to ratification by states.
Two countries Philippines and Uruguay have ratified the convention
With the Convention still in its beginning stages, it needs further ratification and implementation especially by Indian Government.
At the National level a policy for domestic workers has been presented by NAC and uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Labour and employment. The Central Government has sent it to the state governments to get their opinion before
At state level some 8 states have passed the Minimum Wage Act. Two States have constituted a welfare board for the unorganized workers. The Government of Maharashtra has set up a Domestic Workers Welfare Board and has been registering domestic workers to provide social security provision.
NDWM endeavors to protect child domestic workers from abuse, exploitation, and slavery. We provide crisis intervention, bridge schooling, and rescue of victims. We run transit shelter homes to give the victims of child labour and child trafficking a new chance of life.
The anti trafficking for forced labour campaign gets momentum at the source area as well as destination area.
A lot has been achieved through collective struggle .A wonderful power leads our movement and takes it beyond ourselves. With meaning we said yes to every step and more and more we realize all had meaning .
Today we thank you for the support and encouragement of Priyadarshni Academy and all supporters.
But a lot has still to be done. We count on your support and believe that together we can bring justice to all domestic workers and child domestic workers and all children. That will make our world a world of peace
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten