http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article211325.ece
'Indonesian maids serving jail terms will be repatriated soon' By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS Published: Dec 8, 2010 23:27 Updated: Dec 8, 2010 23:27 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Indonesia have stepped up efforts to repatriate 1,719 housemaids currently languishing in different jails across the country. "This number was disclosed by the Saudi side during the bilateral talks co-chaired by Labor Minister Adel Fakieh and Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Askandar, who also renewed his country's commitments to ensure more protection for women workers," said Hendrar Pramutyo, a spokesman of Indonesian embassy, here Wednesday. "Most of these domestic workers were handed down jail terms on alleged charges of immorality," said the spokesman, adding that Minister Muhaimin wrapped up his visit to Riyadh and left for Jakarta on Wednesday. On the case of maids serving sentences as convicts, he said that majority of the housemaids were detained after they were found alone in the cars or in the company of their sponsors or male members of the sponsor's family. "The rules of the host government do not allow single women to move with male members, and hence they got arrested", he added. Pramutyo said that the Indonesian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah had also sped up the process to repatriate about 300 maids currently taking shelters in the missions' safe houses. Most of them are run-away workers, seeking refuge in the missions mainly because of the non-payment of salary or torture, he added. Referring to the demands made by an Indonesia's Muslim organization to stop sending its citizens to Saudi Arabia to work as maids, Pramutyo downplayed the protests launched by Nahdlatul Ulama in Jakarta. He said that some of the Islamic groups have been "provoked by media reports" of abuse. Said Aqil Siradj, chairman Nahdlatul Ulama, has claimed in a report that 12 Muslim groups with more than 100 million followers in Indonesia have urged the government to halt the deployment of female workers until safeguards are implemented in the countries of the Middle East. Indonesia, on the other hand, is also revising its legal instruments regarding the placement of workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, said the spokesman. "We have taken the first step to ensure more protection for our workers, which is evident from the visit of Askandar and his intensive talks with Saudi officials," said Pramutyo. The embassy, on its part, is also in the process of establishing its extension centers outside Riyadh and Jeddah with an aim to provide protection to its workers, he added. He pointed out that the embassy had already settled some 2,770 cases of maids and repatriated them back to Indonesia this year. He said that about 50 percent of the cases were related to non-payment of salary, while 10 percent were related to sexual abuse at the hands of sponsors or his/her family members. Hence, the embassy has also launched a new system of citizen service that calls for providing immediate support to workers in distress, said the spokesman. The workers in distress, who can now contact the mission on a 24-hour hotline service, will also be provided with temporary shelter, health care and other basic needs. In certain cases, the workers will get legal assistance, while the number of the visits of mobile consular teams will be increased to render help to workers living in far-flung areas of the Kingdom, said a report released by the embassy. There are currently a million Indonesians including about 850,000 maids in Saudi Arabia. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
