Domestic workers 'treated like slaves'

DOMESTIC MISERY: Saudi Arabian families are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group has said. (AFP)

Saudi Arabian families are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group said Tuesday.

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released in Indonesia, the home country of thousands of female migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, that in the worst cases the women were "treated like virtual slaves".

"In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they're treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, the group's senior women's rights researcher.

The 133-page report entitled "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia" was compiled after two years of research and 142 interviews with domestic workers, officials, and labour recruiters in Saudi Arabia and the workers' countries of origin, the group said.

It concluded that few of the abusers were ever brought to justice and migrant women who dared to complain risked counter-charges of adultery, witchcraft or moral degradation.

Witchcraft and "moral" crimes such as being in the presence of unrelated men were punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment and 60 to 490 lashes so many abused women decided not to seek justice.

Out of 86 domestic workers interviewed, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuse that amounted to forced labor, trafficking or slavery-like conditions. Some of the cases were horrific.

"For one year and five months... no salary at all. I asked for money and they would beat me, or cut me with a knife, or burn me," Sri Lankan domestic worker Ponnamma S. was quoted as telling the rights group.

Nour Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated due to daily beatings and starvation. Charges against her employers were dropped despite a confession after a three-year legal process.

"Employers often take away passports and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse," HRW said in a statement.

It said Saudi labour laws excluded domestic workers, so many were forced to work 18 hours a day, seven days a week, often without pay, for years.

Thousands of domestic workers took shelter each year at the social affairs ministry and their respective embassies. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal accounted for the bulk of the women.

The ministry was supposed to help negotiate payment but it often sent the workers home "empty-handed" because their earnings were used to pay the employers to release them.

"The restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system ties migrant workers' visas to their employers and means employers can deny workers the ability to change jobs or leave the country," HRW said.

HRW's Varia said the government had spent years considering labour reform "without taking any action".

"It's now time to make these changes, which include covering domestic workers under the 2005 Labor Law and changing the kafala system so that workers' visas are no longer tied to their employers," she said.

"The Saudi government should extend Labor Law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don't have to gamble with their lives."

More than eight million migrants work in Saudi Arabia, including 1.5 million domestic workers, most of whom send money back home to their families.

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READERS' COMMENTS

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Domestic
Posted by J. Prior, london on Sunday 13 July 2008 at 13:51 UAE time

Such abuse happens at all levels.

atrocities.
Posted by A mateen on Wednesday 9 July 2008 at 11:01 UAE time

Though atrocities, torture, oppressions exist all across the world irrespective of country...maids or workers are ill treated in parts of Asia too.
The Government in Saudi Arabia must bring reforms and punish the guilty employers rigorously, (irrespective of gender) in line with islamic teachings.

Shame on all GCC countries
Posted by Marium, Abu Dhabi, UAE on Wednesday 9 July 2008 at 09:45 UAE time

These acts are not only in Saudi but in all GCC countries. Most of the Arabs (other than GCC) now migrating to Canada and is Canadian govt treating them poorly? They give all the rights even citizenship after staying for some years. But here no proper food, accommodation, basic needs, no salary, and even sexual abuse.
The Asian embassies don't have the guts to raise the voice. We can recall the incident happened recently in Abu Dhabi where 3000 Indian workers went on rampage because of the poor food supplied and salary problem.

Domestic Workers
Posted by Srivatsa, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 9 July 2008 at 08:35 UAE time

It is high time that the govt changes the sponsorship system and the domestic workers laws. A govt authority should takeover the domestic workers and house them and send them to duty at regular hours.

Domestic helpers abuse in Saudi
Posted by mike, London on Wednesday 9 July 2008 at 00:56 UAE time

I'm a little confused. I was under the impression that Islam preaches equality and kindness above everything else. I can already hear someone saying that because a few people do something bad, it doesn't make a whole nation or a religion bad. BUT, it's more than a few people, it's a whole nation abusing their workers. And it's not only in Saudi, there have been many reports about the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, etc. So put two and two together, it's either Arabs, or Muslims or both. In any case, it is a shame.

Protecting the weak
Posted by Kieran, London, UK on Tuesday 8 July 2008 at 19:23 UAE time

Embassies bear a lot of the responsibility for these abuses one feels.
They have the power to insist on knowing where each and every one of their citizens is living in the Kingdom and to demand the right from the employers to allow them to visit and determine whether or not they are being looked after properly or not although in a country as huge as the Kingdom that might be difficult but not impossible.
One way that might help to prevent some of the abuses might be to ask the Saudi customs to retain the passport of any domestic worker and to issue some form of receipt valid for one week only.
Then the passports are given to a representative of the embassy each day. After all the passport is the rightful property of the country and not the person carrying it.
Within a week the employer has to present him or herself to the embassy accompanied by the domestic servant and with proof of IDentity (National ID document).
At that time the embassy would note down the employer's details and extend the passport receipt validity for 12 month but retain the passport. At the end of 12 months, if the employee, in private interview, agreed that he or she was happy where they were then the receipt could be validated for a further 24 or 36 months and so on.
Failure to turn up within a month of the receipt expiring should cause the embassy to report the employer and, if necessary, take legal action against them.
This would also force employers who wanted to take employees to another country to get back the passport, requiring another interview of the employee, which would help to ensure that there is no trafficking to a third country.

Shame on the Arabs!
Posted by John Doe on Tuesday 8 July 2008 at 15:40 UAE time

Being the country where Islam was born, this is nothing new for us. I've come across one such case myself and being a Muslim it makes me feel spiteful about the nation of the Saudis!

Current Sponsership system
Posted by Pervez, Dammam, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday 8 July 2008 at 12:17 UAE time

I have been living in the kingdom since 2004 and came to know what the Saudis really want.
International survey shows that Saudis are the happiest nation of the world. I would say why wouldn't they be. The world is moving forward but we Saudis are still living like Badoos.

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