ADDAD GHANA – ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF DOMESTIC WORKERS AND HOUSEHOLD HELPERS

ADDAD Ghana Association for the Defense of the Rights of
Domestic Workers is dedicated to advocating for the fundamental rights,
dignity, and security of domestic workers, vulnerable women, and children in
Ghana. We aim to foster a society where every individual is treated with
respect and equality through a combination of social justice advocacy,
empowerment initiatives, and protection against exploitation.

This is an association of young girls and women, mostly
teenagers and illiterates. They leave remote rural communities for urban
centers for various reasons, such as mismanagement and monopolization of
natural resources, drought, land grabbing, lack of funds for further education,
conflicts, lack or inadequacy of school infrastructure in communities, forced
and early marriages, the search for wedding trousseaux, or simply the desire to
go elsewhere, etc. they migrate to cities in Ghana and other West African
cities to address the needs outlined above. During this migration, most of them
work in households to ensure domestic work.

Domestic workers belong to a group of people that has been
stigmatized.  The society does not value
us and our work, and our rights are not respected. We suffer most of the time
from all kinds of violence, and we are considered to be marginalized groups.

Over the past decade, there has been a massive migration of
girls and young women from rural communities to urban centers. These are young
girls and women, mostly teenagers, school dropouts, or illiterates. They leave
remote rural communities for urban centers for various reasons, such as
mismanagement and monopolization of natural resources, drought, land grabbing,
lack of funds for further education, conflicts, lack or inadequacy of school infrastructure
in communities, forced and early marriages, the search for wedding trousseaux,
or simply the desire to go elsewhere, etc. they migrate to cities in Ghana and
other West African cities to address the needs outlined above. During the
migration, most of them work in households to ensure domestic work.

Domestic workers belong to a group of people that society
has stigmatized.  Their work is not
valued, and their rights are not respected. They suffer most of the time all
kinds of violence and abuse. They are commonly called "maids,"
“housemaids” or "servants".

The domestic activities they carry out are informal, thus
creating a blur and an obstacle to decent work in this sector. They work in
precarious conditions, with a miserable salary that hardly reaches half of the national
guaranteed Minimum Wage. They do not have clearly defined tasks from their
employers. They have no fixed working hours. They do not have a daily rest day,
let alone an annual leave. All these situations of exploitation violate the
rights of these domestic workers.

Looking into it, there are policies, laws, and regulations
that apply to domestic work and domestic workers, such Labour Act, 2003 (Act
651), the Illiteracy Protection Act, 1912, National Daily Minimum Wage. National
Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice in accordance with the Act and the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732),
Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798), and Labour (Domestic
Workers) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2408). Moreover, there are movements fighting
for the ratification of the ILO Convention No 189. These policies and
regulations intend to promote full respect for the rights of domestic workers and
must be enforced in their implementation.

Notwithstanding the multiple efforts made by civil society
organizations for the protection and defense of human rights, the existence of
national policies and strategies for the protection and promotion of
children and women, the situation of girls who are domestic helpers and
servants remains very worrying.