23 May 2007
RIYADH — About 40,000 Indonesian workers, including 500 housemaids, currently taking shelter at the Indonesian Embassy are facing deportation from Saudi Arabia following the near completion of an amnesty period that ends on May 31. The Saudi government earlier announced a grace period for illegal workers to correct their work permits and residential papers or opt to leave the country as early as possible.
“There are 500 maids who have run away from their employers because of misbehavior and they are being looked after by the embassy,” said Arif Suyoko, a spokesman of the Indonesian mission, yesterday.
Suyoko said that the Indonesian ambassador and the embassy’s labor attaché have gone to Jakarta to discuss the pathetic situation created by an ever-growing number of runaway workers, mostly women working as housemaids.
He said that there are thousands of workers currently facing deportation but could not give a precise number. The embassy official also could not say how many Indonesian nationals are currently residing in deportation centers or are being held in Saudi prisons.
But, Anis Hidayah, executive director of the Jakarta-based organization Migrant CARE, said in a press statement that the Indonesian Embassy told the organization that “about 40,000” Indonesian nationals in Saudi Arabia do not have proper immigration papers and that starting on June 1 the Saudi government would begin taking “stern action against overstaying foreigners.”
The embassy says that there are about 650,000 Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia. “Some of them are minor Haj (Umrah) pilgrims who overstayed in Saudi Arabia without legal immigration documents,” said Hidayah.
A large number of Indonesian workers have fled their employers and have sought shelter with the Indonesian mission in Saudi Arabia after lodging complaints against their employers. A number of NGOs in Indonesia like Nahdhatul Ulama and Center for Indonesian Immigrant Workers have protested against the growing number of cases of abuse and maltreatment.
Many migrant workers especially maids in the Gulf states suffer from harassment, non-payment or payment that is delayed for months, violence and sexual abuse. The Indonesian Embassy says that more than 60 percent of their labor-abuse cases involve unpaid salaries. About five percent of the complaints involve sexual abuse.
Officials at the Indonesian mission say they receive between 10 to 15 complaints about mistreatment and non-payment of salaries on a daily basis. In one recent case, four maids were rescued from a house used as brothel in Riyadh. Several housemaids have also committed suicide during the last three years. Unscrupulous private employers, recruiting agents and sponsors are often blamed for labor exploitation.
by M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan
