SIDE EVENT ON JUNE 1st

Our five 'children's champions' (former and current child domestic workers) will be speaking at a side event at the during the ILC: 

The event will take place on:

      WEDNESDAY 1st JUNE
        UN PALAIS DES NATIONS

      ROOM XXII
        13:00 - 15:00

Title: Protecting Young Domestic Workers from Abuse and Exploitation

The event is a panel discussion on the occasion of the 17th Session of the Human Rights Council entitled

The event is hosted by the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica and the Permanent Mission of Uruguay as well as Anti-Slavery International and Children Unite. It is being organised to raise-awareness about child domestic servitude and to discuss the role of human rights as a means of protecting them.

This event coincides with the 100th International Labour Conference, at which a proposed Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers will be discussed. The draft offered for discussion includes two provisions specifically relevant to child domestic workers.

The event aims to raise awareness about the situation of child domestic workers. It will provide an opportunity to discuss how the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights standards and mechanisms can be used to address this crucial issue, and how grassroots efforts can be supported by the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. 

In addition to leading international experts, the event will include testimonies from former child domestic workers who have escaped exploitation and are now advocating for their rights.

PROGRAM 

Chair: H.E.M. Christian Guillermet-Fernández Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva

Speakers: Mr Hatem Kotrane, Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

Voices of child domestic workers: Former child domestic workers from Costa Rica, the Philippines and Tanzania

Ms Myrtle Witbooi: Chair of the International Domestic Workers’ Network (IDWN)

For more information please contact Ms Melanie Clerc at slaveryfund@ohchr.org or Ms Audrey Guichon at a.guichon@antislavery.org