Rights group urges Saudi Arabia to protect domestic workers

JAKARTA: July 8, 2008

A new report on the abuse of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia cites the case of an Indonesian woman, Nour Miyati, who had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten on a daily basis. Her case, tried in a Riyadh court, was later dropped.

The case, according to the report released Tuesday in Jakarta by Human Rights Watch, is hardly unique: the study found that thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia each year face similar abuses, including lashings, unpaid wages, forced labor and slavery-like conditions.
"In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they're treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, author of the report.

About 1.5 million domestic workers live in Saudi Arabia, coming primarily from Asian countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nepal. Indonesia accounts for by far the most workers, an estimated 600,000 to 900,000.

The report, titled, "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials and labor recruiters.
Varia, who has researched migrant worker rights throughout the world, said she was shocked by conditions in Saudi Arabia.


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