[JURIST] Nations in the Middle East and North Africa are failing to provide protections for domestic workers, according to a joint report [text, PDF; press release] issued by three human rights organizations on Monday. The report was co-authored by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Domestic Workers’ Network and the International Trade Union Confederation [advocacy websites]. In the press release accompanying the report, HRW senior women’s right researcher Nisha Varia remarked that Middle Eastern countries have failed to abide by international standards for treating domestic workers:

Even though the Middle East and North Africa are home to some of the worst abuses against domestic workers, the pace of legal reforms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Lebanon has dragged on for years with little to show. And even the proposed reforms fall short of international standards and the comprehensive protections other countries are implementing.

The report stated that many domestic workers in the Middle East often face abuses such as unpaid wages, excessive work hours and psychological and physical abuse.

The rights of domestic workers [JURIST news archive] is a controversial global issue. In September the International Labor Organization [official website] Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) [text] came into force [JURIST report], extending basic labor rights to workers in signatory countries. According to a January ILO study [JURIST report], domestic workers working for private households are vulnerable due to a lack of clear terms of employment, as well as their exclusion from labor legislation. Last September the Domestic Workers Convention was ratified [JURIST report] by enough countries to qualify to go into force in September 2013. In October 2011 the UN warned Lebanon [JURIST report] specifically that it needed to create more laws to protect rights of domestic workers.