Today, on this Human Rights Day, we celebrate the right of all people to make their voices heard and participate fully in public life. Yet the voices of too many women and girls continue to be stifled through discrimination, threats and violence. This is holding back progress for women and for all members of society.

Individuals, non-governmental organizations, groups and networks are invited to submit written communications—including, but not limited to, complaints, appeals and petitions—to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) with information on alleged injustices and human rights violations against women in any country.

The following interview was conducted by UN Women with Ida Le Blanc, General Secretary of the National Union of Domestic Employees of Trinidad and Tobago, with a special acknowledgment to Professor Rhoda Reddock of the University of the West Indies for permission to quote her tribute to Ms Le Blanc’s mother Clotil Walcott.

The following interview was conducted by UN Women with Shirley Pryce, President of the Jamaica Household Workers Association.

In the lead up to the concluding debate of the 2011 Global Forum on Migration and Development to be hosted later in the year, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, with the Government of Jamaica, and the International Organization for Migration are organizing the regional conference “Migrant Domestic Workers at the interface of migration and development: Action to expand good practice”.