KUWAIT CITY, 19 October 2004 — Some two million Asian maids working in Gulf states without proper legal cover face various forms of maltreatment, including sexual abuse and non-payment of salary, according to an official study. The study, reviewed by Gulf social affairs and labor ministers who met in Kuwait last week, also outlined the negative effects of the huge number of foreign domestic helpers on Gulf societies.
It was prepared by a joint Gulf body on the basis of official data supplied by member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The ministers approved a proposal to hold a forum to discuss specific measures to deal with problems facing domestic helpers, in addition to drafting legislation that would serve as a yardstick for member states.
The study stated that domestic helpers are not governed by the labor laws in any of the six states. Only Kuwait has a special law for them but it has so far failed to curb abuses.
Bahrain extends the labor law to partially cover maids, while there is no solid form of legal protection, outside existing general legislation, in any of the remaining GCC members.
The study placed physical abuse and beating, in addition to sexual harassment and rape, at the top of a list of abuses to which domestic helpers are subjected.
Other problems include non-payment or delay in payment of salary and forcing them to do hard work and work long hours and at the weekend.
By the end of 2003, there were 812,000 domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia, 400,000 in Kuwait, 30,000 in Bahrain and 66,000 in Oman. The UAE had 450,000 domestics at the end of 2002, the last available figure, while Qatar did not reveal the number of maids it has.
But the numbers are expected to have grown even higher in the past 10 months. In Kuwait, for example, the number now is 450,00, including maids, private drivers, gardeners and the like.
In the UAE and Kuwait, there is one domestic helper for every two citizens, while in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain there is one domestic helper for each family on average.
The GCC states have a population of about 33 million people, including some 11 million guest workers and their families. Foreign workers’ remittances exceed $25 billion a year.
The overwhelming majority of the domestics come from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan, the study said. Most of them come from the countryside and more than half are illiterate or semi-literate.
The average age of the domestic helpers is 30, and two-thirds of the maids are either married or divorced, the report said.
Christians make up the largest number, followed by Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. Under one percent are Arabs, and the rest Asian.
A number of GCC states proposed that priority in recruitment be given to Arabs and then to Muslims to overcome language difficulties and religious barriers, particularly those faced by children interacting with the domestic helpers.
The study said the dependence of Gulf families on maids had increased because more women were going out to work, but also due to the lack of sufficient nurseries and kindergartens, the low wages of maids and simple recruitment procedures.
Some GCC states called for adopting strict measures and imposing high fees — such as taxes on employers of maids, as imposed in the UAE — to make it more difficult to recruit domestic helpers.
