The 4th International Workshop on Domestic Work

The 4th International Workshop on Domestic Work is one of the parallel activities within the People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA), a migrant-led parallel event to the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which enables civil society organizations (CSOs) to create an independent space to discuss issues explored in the governmental forum and develop an agenda which is fully responsive to concerns of civil society groups. The PGA brings together groups from around the world who are active in the field of migration and development issues, for information sharing and capacity building. This year’s PGA will be held from 1-5 November in Athens, Greece, in conjunction with the 2009 GFMD, with the theme “The Global Economic Crisis and its Impact on Migrants”.

The specific objectives of the Workshop are:
· Sharing and exchange on DW-related processes and initiatives in the various global regions;
· Sharing on the impacts of the global economic crisis on MDWs in different global areas, and response strategies.
· Strengthen IWG-DW as a global network and alliance of DW and advocates;
· Update and improve strategies on the international campaign for recognition of DW, and the advocacy for the ILO DW Convention – identifying a common calls, adopting common campaign materials, identifying joint days of action, coordinating ILO intervention activities, etc;
· Planning other moments and coordinating our action calendar for 2010-2011.

The workshop is also a follow-up to similar DW meetings held in 2006 (New York), 2007 (Brussels), and 2008 (Manila) as part of the civil society workshops during the GFMD. Those earlier workshops were organised by Human Rights Watch, Migrants’ Rights International (MRI), Migrant Forum in Asia, Coalition for Migrants’ Rights and other partners. This year, the IWG-DW is leading the process as recommended by last year’s workshop which set up the IWG-DW. Engaging the preparation and process of migrant domestic workers’ intervention and participation in the campaign around the ILO DW Convention is a key objective of the IWG-DW.