Domestic workers are abused everyday in Nagaland — Activists

Our Correspondent

Kohima, April 15 (EMN): The Nagaland Domestic Workers Union (NDWU) and the state unit of the National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) have said that the alleged abuse of a domestic worker by her employers recently in Kohima is just the tip of an iceberg.

While terming the incident as “heartbreaking”, the state coordinator of NDWM-Nagaland Region, Sister Pramila Lobo told Eastern Mirror that “such incidents take place daily in Nagaland.”

Incidents of domestic workers being abused physically, sexually and emotionally are reported on a regular basis, she said. Most of the workers are not paid properly, or are made to work overtime, the activist shared. The plight of the domestic workers in Nagaland, she said, is very sad.

“Though the state government has registered domestic workers under the Trade Union Act, what about the other benefits, where is the safety and the security? The abuses of the domestic workers are violation of human rights,” Lobo said.

It is high time for the government to protect the domestic workers, she added.

Lobo went on to highlight the limitations of the NDWU and NDWM. “Though we work for their rights, justice, empowerment, and dignity, we can’t go to employers’ house and fight for their rights because our state government does not recognise them as workers; they are not listed in the schedule of employment of Minimum Wages Act; they are not recognised by the state government as workers,” Lobo said.

She felt that there should be a form of tri-party contract to protect domestic workers in the state.

Many households, especially in urban Nagaland, employ domestic workers and their plight will continue to increase if the state government do not protect them, according to the rights activist.

Further, she said that the domestic workers contribute a lot to the economy of the state, and it is high time for the government to acknowledge their contribution.

Abuse of minor

Both the NDWU and the NDWM condemned the abuse of a minor in Kohima as ‘inhuman’ and added such ‘employers should be punished accordingly.’

Asked what took the activists this long to publicly flay the incident, the programme coordinator of NDWU, Grace Gonmei explained: “We thought we would take up action against the perpetrators but it had already been taken up by the Childline, Child welfare, and the police. It would have been the same process, had we taken up the matter.”

She said that a joint meeting has been convened on Wednesday discuss the issue.