In October 2000, representatives from governments, trade unions and non-governmental organizations of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka gathered in Kathmandu for the South Asian Meeting on Women Workers in the Informal Economy and adopted the Kathmandu Declaration.
The Declaration highlights the plight of home-based workers in South Asia, and calls for bringing them into the national economic mainstream in accordance with ILO Convention no. 177 through the formulation of national policies on home-based workers by each country; calls for minimum protection, including the right to organize, minimum remuneration, occupational health and safety, statutory social protection, maternity, childcare, skill development and literacy programmes; and calls for the need to facilitate access to markets and economic resources (including raw materials, marketing infrastructure, technology, credit and information) among a series of key measures.