Maids facing abuse in ME..
AMMAN, Jordan – Forty narrow mattresses line the carpeted floor of the basement at the Philippines Embassy, a damp and dimly lighted room where 20 women have sought refuge from abusive employers.
The room is one of two shelters run by the embassy for Philippines citizens in Jordan — a country that human rights groups accuse of not doing enough to protect about 500,000 foreigners, including 30,000 Filipinos, who are here working as maids and servants or in construction.
Jordan, like other Middle East countries, offers little legal protection for foreign workers, forcing governments like that of the Philippines to operate shelters. Many of the victims are women who accuse their employers of beating them, refusing to pay wages and forcing them to convert to Islam.
"I was ironing when madam snatched a hot iron from my hand and branded my arm," said Francis, 30, a shelter occupant who fled her Jordanian employer's home six months ago. She refused to give her last name, saying she did not want to worry her family in the Philippines.
Recently, the government in Manila decided to stand up for its citizens working in Jordan and elsewhere in the Mideast, saying the money sent home isn't worth the cost of shelters and court cases against workers who flee their employers.
Almost a year ago, the Philippines imposed a ban on sending more workers to Jordan unless the government enacted regulations protecting them. The demands included blacklisting abusive employers, setting maximum hours, guaranteeing one day off a week and quadrupling the minimum monthly wage to $400.
While abuse of maids from poor countries by employers in richer ones is not limited to the Middle East, Philippine officials say it's particularly widespread in the region, including in wealthy states like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
"We are very strict in enforcing new rules," said Virginia Calvez, labor attache at the Philippines Consulate in the emirate of Dubai. "If the employer does not want to comply with our regulations, we advise (the worker) not to go."
Jordan has made some concessions, but has not mandated the $400 monthly salary. Neither has Lebanon. Other Mideast countries — including those in the oil-rich Arab Gulf — have agreed to the minimum wage.
But as a result, many employers are hiring maids from countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia without minimum wage laws. Since new rules were put in place in the Emirates in April 2007, the demand for Filipino maids has dropped by 50 percent, Calvez said. The number of Philippines citizens working in other Gulf countries, including Kuwait, also has declined.
In Amman, Samia Elyan, a 47-year-old housewife, said she replaced her Filipino maid with a less expensive worker from Indonesia, who gets just $100 a month.
"Who cares if the Philippines stopped sending workers to Jordan," she said.
The bans in Jordan and elsewhere also have not prevented Filipinos from slipping into the countries for work. More than 5,000 Filipinos have defied the ban in Jordan since January, said Julius Torres, the Philippines ambassador to Amman.
"The ban made our voice heard, but I know it doesn't solve the problem of employers' maltreatment or abuse," he said.
He added that the Philippines and Jordan have negotiated a protocol on work conditions, but that it would not be signed until the Philippines decides on a mechanism for exporting laborers to Middle East countries, which would probably take three or four months.
The ban on exporting domestic workers could be dropped once the protocol is in place, Torres said.
Meanwhile, Jordan has changed its labor law to give foreign workers some rights, including compensation for being fired without a valid reason.
Labor Ministry Undersecretary Ghazi Shbeikat said the government has ordered prosecutors to actively prosecute abusive employers and is considering expanding police-run shelters for battered women to take in foreigners.
"We're dismayed by the alleged abuses," Shbeikat said. "We're doing our best to improve the conditions."
Jordanian human rights activist Assem Rababah lauded the improvements to the rules as a step in the right direction, but urged enforcing them rigorously.
The new regulations have not dampened the criticism. Amnesty International issued a scathing report in November, saying about 10 foreign workers are believed to commit suicide in Jordan each year.
It accused employers of abusing workers and recruitment agencies of routinely beating newly arriving workers to "frighten and discourage them from running away or from making complaints about their employers."
But Adnan Fawzi, who owns a private Jordanian recruiting firm, denied employment agencies administer beatings. "We go by the book. It's not us, but some employers who practice modern-day slavery," he said.
Sarah Balabagan, a one-time Filipino maid in the United Arab Emirates, became the subject of international outcry after being sentenced to death in 1994 for killing an employer who she said tried to rape her. Reprieved and back in the Philippines, she says many domestics become utterly despondent after regular beatings in Middle Eastern households.
"Some want to end their suffering with death," she said, citing a maid who jumped from a house window in the Middle East last year to escape frequent beatings. The maid broke her leg and is now home, Balabagan said.
The issue of mistreating maids has prompted a Saudi-based advertising agency to launch a public service TV campaign aimed at decreasing the abuse. The ads, shown on several pan-Arab satellite TV stations, feature re-enactments of employers verbally abusing their maids.
But the ill-treatment persists. In one recent case in Jordan, Fayzah Ismail, 20, said she worked for her employer for 2 1/2 years for an agreed meager monthly wage of $150, "but she never paid me." Ismail is staying in a Philippine Embassy shelter.
A 17-year-old from the Philippines claims her employer and his son raped her. She went into hiding last month and agreed to speak to The Associated Press on condition her name not be used nor her hiding place revealed because she feared arrest after her employer reported her to police as a runaway.
The teenager said she came to Jordan five months ago to help her poor parents. To comply with a Jordanian law requiring workers to be at least 18, she said she used a fake passport saying she was 28.
"I have no tears. My tears have all dried up," she said. "I'm frightened and helpless."
Yahoo
Advice for mistreated Housemaid’s living in Qatar
Important note
If your sponsor has sexually or physically assaulted you need to report this immediately and not follow the below process.
Call the Qatar Foundation Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT)- 24 hour hotline 5565 3388 Email: [email protected] Office: 4491 2888 Or call the police- 999 Or call your embassy (numbers below)
Mistreatment may include;
- Physical abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Threats and verbal harassment
- Being overworked and not get getting a day off
- Not being allowed to leave your sponsors house ever by yourself
- Not being allowed to have your personal documents such as your passport (your sponsor should only keep this for a maximum of 1 week)
- Not being fed enough
- Not being able to communicate with your family back home or have access to a mobile phone or internet
- Not having appropriate accommodation provided to you
- Locking you in your room at night
If this is you, what should you do now?
It is important to remember that you are simply a staff member, living in your employers house and that you do not have to put up with an arrangement where you are being exploited. You have rights as a staff member/ human being and there are many ways to exercise your rights. Housemaids do not have to stay with their employer if they cannot come to an arrangement that suits both the employer and the housemaid. In short, you cannot be forced to stay.
First Step: Read your contract. Each contract outlines the terms and conditions of your employment requirements. If you do not have a copy of your contract then you have the right to ask for one from your employer. If your employer says that you do not have one then you should request one. Explain that you need to have a document that clearly explains what duties are required of you and the expectations that they have of you. Compare your contract to the one at the end of this document.
Most contracts stipulate the following:
Termination by the employee: the employee may terminate this contract on the following grounds, namely; sexual abuse, serious insult, inhuman and unbearable treatment, violation of the terms and conditions of the employment contract by the employer or their representative, sub-human working and living conditions, failure on the part of the employer to pay the salary/wages. The employer shall pay the repatriation expenses back to their home country.
Termination due to illness: either party may terminate the contract due to illness, disease or injury suffered by the contract worker. In which case the employer must cover the costs associated with repatriation of the worker back to their home country.
Your contract should also specify your hours of work, annual vacation and sick leave and conditions for accommodation and food.
Your contract is important because it is your legal benchmark that you can refer to when your sponsor is exploiting you. You only have to do what your contract says.
Second Step: Try talking to your sponsor. They are after all your employer. Explain to them clearly what is troubling you. You can do this in writing if it is easier.
For example write them a letter informing them that you are concerned about how many hours that they are making you work and that you need to get more sleep. Propose a solution that you think works for you such as suggesting that you only work from 7am-7pm with a specified lunch break. Also feel free to ask for a day off.
This is a good time to refer to your contract and inform your employer of where you think they are asking you to do things not covered in your contract- ie work too many hours, not give you enough food, not providing health care etc.
Third Step: You need to try to gain evidence of any exploitation occurring.
Hints on providing evidence:
- Take photographs of any physical proof of abuse such as bruises and cuts
- If you have access to a tape recorder try to record discussions with your sponsor
- Keep a copy of all letters that you give to the employer complaining about your working conditions
- Keep a diary of daily activities- including what time you started and finished work, what food you received and dates of receiving payments and the amount received
- Keep your receipts of transfers to your home country
- Get a witness, such as another housemaid, to write down what she has seen in regards to your treatment and sign it
Fourth Step: If your sponsor does not respond positively to your approach then you need to get outside assistance. Request to have an external arbitrator (third person) to assist in settling your dispute. This person could either be a representative of your recruitment agency or your embassy. You should try to get a representative from the recruitment agency first. This meeting might result in you having to change employers or be repatriated back to your home country. The decision may also be that your sponsor has not done anything legally wrong or they might get a warning and you may have to return to that residence. If you are unhappy with the outcome and process of the meeting you could ask for a representative from your embassy to attend.
Fifth Step: If your sponsor is not changing their behaviour and is still exploiting you and will not let you leave the house or take you to the recruitment agency or embassy. Then you could try to escape and make your way to your embassy. You must be very careful though because there have been some terrible cases of housemaids being abused on their trip to the embassy due to their vulnerability because they have no money or documents. In order to avoid this, try and get a friend to help you if possible and make sure you only get into a car of someone you trust. If you can, you should try to call the embassy first to inform them that you are coming, they might be able to assist you with transport. In order to assist in a quick repatriation to your home country try your best to get your passport and travel documents including your ID. It helps if you have a photocopy of your passport, your ID and Residence Permit.
Sixth Step: If you get caught trying to escape and are fearful for your safety then call the Police- on 999 or the Human Rights section in the Ministry of the Interior- 4489 0111/ 44890100 or 5550 4467 or email them on [email protected].
The new human trafficking law in Qatar stipulates:
Article 2 of the legislation provides a definition:
Shall be guilty of the crime of trafficking in human beings both used in any form or transmitted by a natural person or extradite him or harboring him or received by, or receives it, both within the country or across national borders, if done by the use of force or violence or the threat of them, or by abduction, fraud, or deception, or abuse of power, or the exploitation of vulnerability or need, or the promise of giving or receiving of payments or benefits in exchange for the consent of a person on the trafficking of another person having control over it, and all of that if these acts with a view to exploitation, whatever forms including sexual exploitation in prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation and child in that child pornography or begging, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude or the removal of organs or human tissue, or part thereof.
People implicated in human trafficking in Qatar will face 15 years in prison and a QR300,000 ($82,368) fine under a new anti-human trafficking law. Individuals or gang members found guilty of forcibly transferring, receiving or sheltering victims are also included in the law ratified by the Emir, Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. The law comes into force with immediate effect (September 2011). The law includes a responsibility of providing shelter to a victim of human trafficking until the legal process has been completed. The victim would be given financial compensation. The victim would not be held responsible for the crime in any way, even if he or she broke Qatar's sponsorship or entry or residency rules. There is a shelter at the Qatar Foundation Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT) that will house you and if this is filled up already then your embassy will provide shelter for you.
Important numbers
Fire, ambulance and police: 999
Water emergency: 991
Human trafficking hotline: 44912888/ 55653388
Labour Department: 4440 6554
National Human Rights Committee: 4444 4012
Hamad Accident & Emergency: 4439 4444
Department of Immigration Ph: 44621896
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ph: 974 4415000
Telephone directory assistance 180
Embassies
Philippines: 4483 1585/6871- or call Danilo Flores, Welfare Officer- 5517 1633
Indonesia: 4465 7945
Nepal: 4467 5681
Pakistan: 4483 2525
Eritrea: 4466 7934
Sri Lanka: 44677627/ 47
we cannot stop some who find ways and take risks just for them to help their family...
I agree with tess_916! (IMHO) if the Government itself can't assure the safety and protection of these OFWs, then better stop deploying them.
Sick
happens all the time.. but still saddening.. i feel for my fellow Filipinos who has undergone this kind of ordeal. they dont deserve to be treated as such.. we can probably say all the bad words that we can come up with regarding the employers who do this to them, but it doesn't change anything. i still have hopes that someday this will come to an end...only God knows.
yes..it's true..this is nothing new.. but still it's really sad hearing this kind of stories... it's just too emotionally draining... especially when people are taking advantage of one's weaknesses...