Embassies tackle runaway maids

While Saudi Arabia's demand for domestic workers is rising, more of them are running away from their sponsors, the local English language daily Arab News reported.

At present 80 runaway maids are being accommodated in a villa by the Sri Lankan Consulate General. About 100 are reported in Riyadh. While some runaway maids want to be transferred to other sponsors, others want to be repatriated.

Local families have sometimes illegally recruited maids from Sri Lanka, which could not have happened without the connivance of local consulate staff.

There has been a string of sensational stories in the Sri Lankan press about the "sale" of runaway maids and accusations against Saudis for mistreating their maids.

"I'm here to investigate all such cases," Sri Lankan Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar told Arab News.

The consulate is trying to find an amicable settlement between the runaway maids and their sponsors.

Many maids visited by Arab News say they ran away from their sponsors, in some cases within a few months, because of ill-treatment from sponsors or their family members, non-payment of salaries, physical harassment, long working hours without days off and denial of medical treatment.

Some maids say they feel homesick and want to return home. A sudden change of diet and culture, added to the communication barrier, also results in hardship and loneliness. Sponsors have a different explanation.

"These maids are not given any orientation before coming here. They don't know the local language; they are not aware of the local lifestyle and have been misusing facilities," Abdullah Al Ghamdi, a local sponsor, said. Runaway maids have also been causing losses to the tune of millions of riyals to their sponsors.

Sponsors pay a minimum fee of 5,500 riyals to get a maid.

"So if any family wants to hire a maid, they should do so legally. Even a runaway maid can be legally hired by a family if they approach the original sponsor or agent and get the sponsorship legally transferred," the ambassador said.

A runaway maid told Arab News that she came here after spending 12 years in Kuwait. Within four months, she discovered that living with the family of her Saudi sponsor was "so hellish" that she had only one option: to flee to the Sri Lankan Consulate. Another maid said she was in her teens when she was sent by an agent in Colombo to work with a Saudi family here.

The maid, who has taken refuge in the consulate, said she received no remuneration during her 18 years of service.

There are 350,000 Sri Lankans working in the Kingdom, 85 per cent of them being housemaids and unskilled labour.

Nearly 20,000 cases of maids fleeing their sponsors were reported last year – particularly Indonesians, Filipinos and Sri Lankans.

Tumpal Martua Hutasuhut, head of consular affairs at the Indonesian Embassy, said recently, "Nearly 60 maids were repatriated to Indonesia in October last year alone."

"In 2002 alone, a total of 3,610 maids who accused their employers of harassment were sent back to Indonesia after they ran away and took shelter at the embassy," Tumpal said.

Tumpal said some 60 per cent of the cases involve unpaid salaries, while only five per cent are related to sexual abuse from the employers.

Meanwhile, recruitment agents continue to play havoc with the lives of candidates, who are too easily duped. Under the existing procedure, the consulate approaches the maid's sponsor and tries to bring about an amicable settlement.

"As far as possible, we want the maids to go back to their sponsors and we do this with the help of the local police. If there is no settlement then we arrange for the deportation of the maids," Ansar said.

"We've mounted a large-scale operation to clean up the illegal practices because we want every Sri Lankan expat here to strictly abide by the local law," Ansar said.

The Sri Lankan government has stipulated that a female maid should be paid a minimum of $125 a month and a male domestic helper $200. "We're trying to increase the minimum wage with a full-fledged orientation programme introduced in our country," the ambassador said.