"Business & Human Rights: Companies can use their leverage to protect migrant domestic workers", 6 Jul 2016

In the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), domestic workers...are largely excluded from labour law...Our advocacy has resulted in the creation of an Employers Guide, a simple and accessible tool that helps formalise domestic work and provides guidelines for a smooth and empowering relationship that benefits the employer of a domestic worker and the worker themselves...in some countries, including Qatar, for an expatriate to be able to sponsor a domestic worker, they must receive a letter from their employer. At this juncture, the organisation becomes (indirectly) a part of the recruitment and employment process. This is both a responsibility and an opportunity to guide their...staff on best practices. There is significant room for companies to exercise leadership and leverage, and scope to insist that where employees seek to engage the services of a domestic worker they do so following formalised conditions that respect the rights of the worker.