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Saudi Arabia: Migrant domestic staff killed by employers
New York, August 17, 2007(AKI) The killing of two Indonesian domestic workers by their employers in Saudi Arabia this month highlights the Saudi governments ongoing failure to hold employers accountable for serious abuses, campaign group Human Rights Watch warned on Friday.Seven members of a Saudi family who employed four Indonesian women as domestic workers brutally beat them in early August after accusing them of practicing black magic on the familys teenage son, HWR reported. Siti Tarwiyah Slamet, 32, and Susmiyati Abdul Fulan, 28, died from their injuries. Ruminih Surtim, 25, and Tari Tarsim, 27, are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of Riyadh Medical Complex. Saudi authorities have detained the employers. "The brutal killings of these Indonesian domestic workers occurred in an atmosphere of impunity fostered by government inaction, said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in HWR's Womens Rights Division. Not only do the authorities typically fail to investigate or prosecute abusive employers, the criminal justice system also obstructs abused workers from seeking redress, she added. Approximately 2 million women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and other countries are employed as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. They are routinely underpaid, overworked, confined to the workplace, or subject to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, according to HWR. The shocking case of the four Indonesian maids is symptomatic of wider abuse, HWR says. Besides being victims of abuse themselves, many domestic workers are subject to counteraccusations, including theft, adultery or charges of fornication in cases of rape or witchcraft. Saudi authorities and embassies of domestic workers home countries receive thousands of complaints of labor exploitation or abuse each year. Many more cases most likely go unreported, HWR said. During visits to Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka in November and December last year, Human Rights Watch interviewed Sri Lankan domestic workers sentenced to prison and whipping in Saudi Arabia after their employers had raped and impregnated them. An Indonesian domestic worker was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for witchcraft, commuted from an original death sentence. The Indonesian embassy did not learn about the arrest, detention or trial of the worker until one month after the sentencing. Posted by: mrp 2007-08-17 |
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