Members of trade-unions and NGOs had a meeting to this effect yesterday in Yaounde.

Some heads of trade unions, members of a support network for domestic workers (RENATRAD) and the NGO-Horizons Femmes yesterday September 12 had a meeting in Yaounde to discuss on the programme which aims at promoting a social legal framework for domestic workers in Cameroon.

The President of Horizons Femmes, Denis Ngatchou, said the meeting aimed at brainstorming on laws which could be tabled to parliament in view of improving the poor working conditions of domestic workers who often work with meagre salaries, without a work contract and without being attached to the National Social Insurance Fund.

Experts say the law under examination is extremely imperative to lay particular emphasis on the strict requirement to secure professional relationship between a domestic worker and his employer through an employment contract; protect inherent to privileges and immunities and increase the minimum age for domestic employers in order to prevent abuses related to early exploitation of children.

It also aims at restructuring the length of working hours for domestic employees from 54 to at most 45 hours per week as well as the adoption and implementation of other specific legal arsenal for the protection of domestic workers.