Nisha Varia
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 26
Get eBook
"Millions of Asian and African women migrate to work as domestic workers in the Middle East and Asia. Migrant domestic workers perform services essential for many households to function and their earnings constitute a significant proportion of the billions of dollars in remittances sent to their home countries each year. Yet most host governments systematically deny them key labor protections accorded other workers and implement immigration policies that impede workers' ability to escape abusive conditions. While many migrant domestic workers report decent working conditions, Human Rights Watch research over the past six years has shown that they risk a range of abuses. Common complaints include unpaid wages, excessive working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees. Isolation in private homes and forced confinement in the workplace contribute to psychological, physical and sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking. Slow Reform surveys progress in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Singapore, and Malaysia in extending protection to domestic workers under labor laws, reforming immigration 'sponsorship' systems that contribute to abuse, ensuring effective response by police and courts to physical and sexual violence, and allowing civil society and trade unions to organize. The report highlights best government responses and continuing protection gaps and makes detailed recommendations to ensure respect for migrant domestic workers' rights."--Page 4 of cover.