Federal and Provincial Assembly lawmakers have pledged to intensify efforts to secure Nepal’s ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Convention No 189 on domestic workers.

Speaking at a discussion organized by Yuwalaya, a youth-led non-profit organization, in Kathmandu on Sunday, the lawmakers highlighted that ratifying the Convention would ensure domestic workers’ rights to safe, healthy, and decent working conditions. They also acknowledged Nepal’s position as one of the top source countries sending domestic workers abroad and committed to pressing the government to endorse the Convention.

Provincial Assembly member Sushma Bhujel stressed the urgency of ratification to improve the rights and protections of domestic workers. According to national data, Nepal has an estimated 200,000 domestic workers, 80 percent of whom are women. Due to the absence of legal recognition, many domestic workers are denied basic rights such as fair wages, health benefits, insurance, and paid leave.

Participants at the discussion emphasized that endorsing the Convention is crucial to ensuring dignity, protection, and justice for domestic workers in Nepal. They also raised strong concerns about physical and sexual violence faced by Nepali women working as domestic help abroad—particularly in Europe, Israel, and Gulf countries, which remain key destinations for Nepali migrant domestic workers.

Lawmaker LP Sanwa Limbu remarked that since domestic work is one of the largest employment sectors worldwide, the treatment of workers is shaped not only by laws but also by social attitudes and cultural values. Limbu and other participants pointed out that delays in ratifying the Convention have left many security guards and domestic workers in the Gulf countries without guaranteed minimum wages or legal protections.

Despite Nepal being a party to the ILO agreement, domestic workers and those in the informal sector remain deprived of minimum rights due to the lack of an enacted legal framework. Committee member Kantika Sejuwal noted that even with Nepal’s three-tier government system, there is still no effective mechanism for protecting domestic workers’ rights or for maintaining accurate statistics on their employment.

During the event, representatives of domestic workers and trade unions said that once the Convention is ratified, women migrant workers would no longer have to hide their employment status when traveling and could confidently use Nepal’s airports. They also called for pre-departure training to equip workers with language skills, cultural knowledge, technical competencies, and information about foreign laws.

Lawmakers Sapana Rajbhandari and Sita Mijar urged the government to develop people-friendly laws and ensure family reunification policies for domestic workers, while also enhancing government accountability.

Bijaya Rai Shrestha, a representative of the Migrant Women Workers Group (MWWG), said that without formal ratification, workers in informal sectors—both within Nepal and abroad—have been deprived of minimum wages mandated by the government.

Dharma Raj Rimal, chairperson of Yuwalaya, closed the program by emphasizing the need for unified action to push the Convention’s ratification forward. -- RSS