Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has signed an agreement with several recruitment committees in the Kingdom to follow up with the cases of housemaids who have been deprived of their basic rights, said Mufleh Al-Qahtani, NSHR chairman. Some foreign recruitment offices need information on the status of housemaids sent by them to work in the Kingdom, Al-Qahtani said. That is why the NSHR signed this agreement with pertinent government authorities. The NSHR will issue regulations that will guarantee the rights of housemaids and employers alike and ensure that all parties involved understand their rights clearly and that there are no violations, the NSHR chairman noted. The problem is that only a few cases are registered as human trafficking because judges are not fully aware of the human trafficking law. The same applies to investigators of the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution. However, that does not mean there are many such misclassified cases, he pointed out. Their numbers are minimal. Al-Qahtani stressed the importance of educating judges and investigators about this important law so that they can identify human trafficking cases and correctly apply the law. Sometimes, individuals can be accused of engaging in human trafficking activities without their knowledge. Such activities include misusing their power as guardians, non-compliance with Shariah and laws, adhl cases (when guardians deny their daughters the right to marry) and underage marriages. Judges and investigators should be introduced to the proper mechanisms to understand the law's applications. The NSHR strategic plans will focus on conducting courses for judges and investigators to apply the human trafficking law and regulations properly. He said the committee in charge of human trafficking cases is based at the NSHR headquarters and it is working on enhancing the positive role of the law enforcement. Most cases of smuggling illegal female workers are not classified as human trafficking violations unless they satisfy certain legal conditions. One should not jump to conclusions and consider such cases as human trafficking because there are many factors that should be taken into consideration before arriving at such hasty conclusions. First, one should know whether the female workers involved have been deprived of their freedom or whether they have an agreement with another party to smuggle them into the country. In such situations, the cases should be not be classified as human trafficking. Blatant violations of human trafficking regulations include cases in which employers force their employees to work beyond reasonable hours or confiscate their official documents and refuse to repatriate them. The smuggling cases involving illegal female workers will continue due to several reasons. Firstly, the workers' countries of origin are not responding to calls to put an end to this problem. Secondly, there is poor coordination among government authorities to solve this problem. That is why many Saudi families have difficulty retaining their housemaids or finding new ones.
