The Kingdom's ban on recruiting domestic help from the Philippines and Indonesia is scheduled to be lifted during the month of October. Negotiations are currently being finalized between Saudi Arabia and these two Asian countries, and it is expected that the Kingdom will soon resume issuing employment visas for domestic workers. “Our ministry will continue in its efforts in cooperation with the Labor Ministry to facilitate recruitment visa procedures by applying modern technology. We will also protect the rights of both Saudi employers and foreign workers,” said Prince Khalid Bin Saud Bin Khalid, Assistant Foreign Minister. Progress has been made in the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, but new obstacles have recently appeared in the prospective agreement between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Additional conditions have been received by Riyadh from Jakarta after the original drafting of Jakarta's terms and conditions and after months of communication which had ensued between the two cities. Jakarata has stipulated that the Kingdom should establish specialized courts to address resolving disputes that may arise between the Indonesian maid and the sponsoring family. According to these conditions, the courts should be accessible to Indonesian maids and will be responsible for settling differences and protecting runaway maids. “This new clause was unexpected and quite objectionable because it challenges the impartiality and efficacy of the Kingdom's existing judicial system. However, talks will continue between Riyadh and Jakarta and we remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached,” said Saad Al-Baddah, Chairman of the National Recruitment Committee at a press conference held in Riyadh earlier this week. The Saudi employer must also present to the recruitment agency a clear map of the house which the domestic worker will reside in. The employer is also required to guarantee for the domestic worker a safe and comfortable environment and adequate nutrition, and she should be permitted to communicate with her friends and family. These are all basic rights that must be upheld. Many are waiting for the signing of an agreement between Jakarta and Riyadh because last year's ban has created many problems. The shortage in domestic workers as a result of the ban has resulted in an illegal maid rental market that is run and monopolized by groups of local brokers who provide families with maids and sometimes force these maids to work in a number of houses to double their own financial returns. The maid rental phenomenon has encouraged maids to run away from their legitimate employers who spent thousands of riyals on bringing them to this country, in search of higher wages. The domestic workers are fully aware of the increased demand for household help and they are taking advantage of it. An elderly Saudi woman Khadija Al-Khoshaim, who originally belongs to Madinah but currently lives in Jeddah, told Saudi Gazette: “I had recruited an Indonesian maid last year and she stayed with us for exactly one week. Without any warning signs, I just woke up one morning and found her missing without a trace. With a fixed salary of SR800, the maids know that they can make more money elsewhere, so they run away. If she had just asked me for more money, I may have obliged, but she just left me in my time of need, and the recruitment agency did nothing to refund my money or replace the run-away maid.” Al-Baddah called on all recruitment agencies to require prospective domestic workers from Asian countries to undergo psychological assessment in addition to the physical medical tests before entering the Kingdom and again upon their arrival. The tragic story of Tala who was brutally killed by a housemaid has frightened parents who have young children and has made it clear that a psychological evaluation of domestic workers is a necessity. Violence and emotional and physical abuse is unacceptable and Islam forbids such acts to be perpetrated against either party, the domestic worker or the employer and his family.
