JEDDAH, 4 September 2006 — An estimated 20,000 housemaids with valid visas are unable to travel to Saudi Arabia from their home countries due to a lack of airline seats.

The maids are mostly from Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan maids have additional problems in their country due to the ongoing ethnic conflict.

Saudi recruitment agents have made appeals to Saudi Arabian Airlines to operate extra flights to bring the maids whose arrival is considered by the local households as the “most urgent” in view of the end of the vacation season. Also, local schools have reopened after the summer break.

A local agent says some of the maids, who have not been able to travel to the Kingdom, find themselves in a miserable state as their visas are expired and it may take a month or two to get the visas renewed or get fresh visas.

“If Saudia does not act immediately then things may worsen for the families of both the citizens and expatriates who largely depend on housemaids,” Saad Al-Baddah, president of the Kingdom’s national recruitment committee, said yesterday.

“International airlines operating from Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka have two or three flights a week, which are not enough to cater for the maids waiting to travel to the Kingdom. Adding to this is the rush of Umrah pilgrims who have to be given priority,” Al-Baddah said. In this situation, the only thing that can ease the problem is for Saudia and the national airlines of those countries to operate extra flights, he added.

“We find it extremely difficult in the present situation, as the maids expected to arrive around this time are no longer coming, not at least for some time to come,” Abdullah Al-Mahdi, a local recruitment agent, said.

Asked whether the non-arrival of maids amounted to financial losses, another local agent, Saad Al-Amri, said, “It’s not the question of losses. The question is how long the local households can wait for the arrival of maids.”

Diplomats at the Indonesian and Philippine consulates said they were also keen to see that their maids arrived here as soon as possible and sought the cooperation of all agencies to sort out the problem.

Diplomats said they were also considering plans to help prevent the exploitation of maids.

“We’re giving them orientation before their arrival in the Kingdom so that they get an idea about the lifestyle of households here,” an Indonesian official said.

Substantiating this, a Philippine diplomat said: “Our aim is to see that the number of complaints against the maids is reduced.”

Saudi employers complain that they end up losing considerable amounts of money when the housemaids flee and are never compensated. They say the authorities are doing little to protect their rights as more and more maids run away.