Lured by the prospect of greener pastures, many maids desert their sponsors and project their escape as an antidote for their maltreatment by the employers. “A limited number of housemaids abscond for reasons of abusive treatment. Mostly, they flee in greed for more money,” Dr. Hussain Al-Shareef, Supervisor of National Society of Human Rights (NSHR) in Makkah region said. “They work illegally like an overstayer who come to the Kingdom for pilgrimage,” he said. A report by the Amnesty International says, “More than 19,000 foreign maids had run away from their employers in 2001; most of those were from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Philippines.” The numbers have significantly increased in the last eight years. Saudi Arabia hires the largest number of domestic workers among GCC countries. Foreign women accept migrant jobs as housemaids in the Kingdom due to lack of employment opportunities back home, and a hope to accumulate significant savings. In most cases, this intension of making more money provokes them to flee from their sponsors' house. “My housemaid fled the third day she came from Indonesia. She did not work during the three days saying she was sick due to jet lag,” said Umm Wael Al-Jandal, a Saudi housewife. “She wore my abaya, shoes and took my hand bag while I was sleeping. My watchman saw her leaving and mistook her for me,” she said. Mostly, runaway maids take refuge with illegal overstayers who operate in an ‘established network' in Jeddah, Makkah and Madina, consisting of other illegal foreign workers. Housemaids make all possible attempts, often dangerous, to escape from their sponsors' house. Reports of maids falling from either the roof or balcony of the building in a failed bid to escape have come to light. The maid may even try to scale down the face of the building on a flimsy string of tied bed sheets. “If they fail to escape and are injured, they accuse the sponsor of rape attempt,” a police official in north Jeddah said. “In a recent case, a housemaid was seriously injured. She said she had jumped from the first floor as her sponsor's son tried to assault her,” he said. “Later, she changed her statement admitting that she had tried to escape for a better salary. She even demanded money from her sponsor to speak the truth and a permit to flee. It was proved that the sponsor's son was innocent,” the police source said. A fingerprint system implemented last year by the Passport Department helps to apprehend individuals who return to the Kingdom after deportation. “This rule should have been applied much earlier,” Al-Shareef said. “We suggested the fingerprint system four years ago when we visited prisons and found that 75 percent prisoners were foreigners,” he said. Al-Shareef said the foreign embassies declined to identify the prisoners as they did not have their passport or documents to prove their nationality. “Jail authorities were helpless as the overstayers kept coming back with Umrah or Haj visas after their deportation,” he said. The finger print system also helps detect those who were involved in crimes. Workers and maids who flee their sponsor's house can be detected, arrested and sent to their countries. Claims of lost Iqama (residence permit) or change in name cannot be made. “The government has a right to stop law violators from entering the Kingdom, but they can be allowed to come for pilgrimage after a period of time,” Al-Shareef said, adding the government may set this period as two years. The Philippines, Indonesia and India are negotiating for changes in rules and pay scales for domestic workers. Sources at the Philippine Consulate, Jeddah, listed the specifications for house help as, “a day-off each week, a pay of SR1500 per month, travel expense every two years, health care, and decent treatment from the employer's family.” Indian and Indonesian consulate have set similar criteria for domestic help. The Human Rights Report estimated that around 20,000 domestic workers arrive in the Kingdom every month on employment visas. But, according to the Indonesian embassy in Jeddah, it alone approves 15,000 such new contracts per month. An association of Saudi recruitment agencies estimated they bring in 30,000 to 40,000 domestic workers per month. “We have stopped approving visas for domestic help due to a disagreement over their pay. We set it at a minimum of SR1500 per month, but the Saudi employers have not agreed,” a source at the Indian consulate in Jeddah said. He said official endorsement of visas, however, cannot be discontinued. Many housemaids, even before arriving here, have a network in place with others from their home country. If a housemaid runs away from her employer, he loses all the money spent to bring her. This includes cost of visa, recruitment fees, and an air ticket. With the amount going up to as high as SR10,000 lost on a housemaid if she runs away, recruiting a maid from Southeast-Asia has become a costly business. The monthly salary of a housemaid varies according to their nationality and their recruitment agency. Maids from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Philippines and Bangladesh, fall in the SR550–SR800 range per month. Housemaids from Nigeria and Eritrea average SR750-SR1300 per month. The salary is negotiated and approved by the agency and the housemaids, who are aware of the proposed salary before leaving their home country. However, the lure to multiply their salary manyfolds drives the maids to jump the fence, and join a network of their counterparts. In most cases, they share an apartment, and work without permit in an employer's house, apparently on a higher salary. With a high demand of maids during Ramadan, many people employ runaway maids and pay them exorbitant salaries up to SR1500. “I left my sponsors' house after three months of work, and now I stay in my friend's house. We did not marry but he supports me totally,” said a runaway maid, requesting anonymity, who first pretended to have arrived on an Umrah visa and stayed back for work. She said she wants to live in the Kingdom for another four or five years. “I don't mind leaving my friend who is supporting me now if he stops pampering me,” she said. Many housemaids are hired by unscrupulous recruitment agencies based in their homelands. The Ministry of Social Affairs and the police deal with cases of runaway maids at the Center for Maids Affairs. The Center employs receptionists to follow up complaints. A number of female workers supervise detained maids and ensure that the women are given food and shelter. It is perhaps time the government takes some steps to protect the rights of the Saudi employers who are ‘abused' by their dishonest maids. __
