RIYADH: The Indonesian Embassy reported yesterday that it logged 102 reported sexual assaults of Indonesian maids in the first half of 2008.
“This is in addition to 156 cases of physical torture reported to the embassy from January to June this year,” said Sukamto Javaladi, labor attaché at the Indonesian Embassy. “The Indonesian Embassy is seeing a steady upward trend in the number of reported cases of sexual assaults, while thousands of our women also suffer working inhumane hours for almost no pay with many enduring abuse by their Saudi employers.”
Javaladi, however, described the deplorable treatment of maids “minimal” compared to the large number of Indonesian women — estimated at 626,000 — working in the Kingdom. Indonesia sends the highest number of women to work in Saudi Arabia.
“As far as cases of (general) abuse is concerned, the Indonesian Embassy recorded 3,428 cases, which does not include complaints lodged at the Consulate General in Jeddah,” said Javaladi.
These cases typically involve breach of contract and wage disputes. “Many maids are not paid regular salary, while many others remain underpaid in sharp violation of the contractual obligations,” said Javaladi.
Among common violations, many of which go unreported, is expecting maids to be at work any time of the day or night, seven days a week.
Javaladi said the embassy had been assured by senior Saudi officials that they would take stern action, including imprisonment, against those employers who violate maids’ rights.
“The problems faced by these women workers are not limited to the Kingdom. Rather, complaints abound in all Gulf countries, or even beyond,” said a report released by the Indonesian Migrant Workers Association recently.
According to the report, more than 1.5 million Indonesians are currently working in the Middle East, 90 percent of them as housemaids.
“Thousands of abuse cases are reported to embassies and nongovernmental organizations across the region every year,” said the report, adding that many complain of not being paid or receiving less wages than promised while others have been physically or sexually assaulted or even go sick because of the lack of amenities.
Asked about the future plan with regard to the deployment of Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia, Javaladi said that there was no ban on recruitment to Saudi Arabia, which hires the largest number of domestic workers from Indonesia.
Describing the issue as “delicate,” Javaladi said that no single party was fully responsible for the problem. He laid most of the blame on individual Saudi employers, but pointed out that the regulation of foreign labor in the Kingdom lies on “several parties.”
The monthly minimum salary stipulated by the Indonesian government was increased from SR600 ($160) to SR800 ($213) last year. With this salary, maids are supposed to be provided room and board, health care, one day off per week, and a round-trip ticket home every other year.
The Indonesian government endorses only labor contracts of maids that show the increased salary. However, a common practice is to draw up a work contract in the home country in order to get clearance, and then alter the terms of the contract after the worker arrives in the host country.
Recently, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on labor exploitation and urged Saudi Arabia to implement labor, immigration and criminal justice reforms to protect foreign workers.
