“As If I Am Not Human” Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-351-X Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org July 2008 1-56432-351-X “As If I Am Not Human” Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia I. Summary......................................................................................................................... 1 Legal Framework and Recruitment Practices ................................................................... 2 Abuses against Domestic Workers.................................................................................. 4 Poor Redress Mechanisms.............................................................................................. 6 Key Recommendations to the Government of Saudi Arabia............................................. 8 Key Recommendations to the Governments of Migrants’ Countries of Origin (including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal)........................................................... 9 II. Methodology................................................................................................................ 10 III. Asian Women’s Labor Migration to Saudi Arabia...........................................................14 Asian Women’s Status and Reasons for Migration .........................................................16 Women’s Status in Saudi Arabia................................................................................... 20 Scale of Abuses.............................................................................................................21 IV. Legal Framework for Migrant Domestic Workers .......................................................... 24 Exclusion from Labor Laws ............................................................................................25 The Kafala System ........................................................................................................ 26 Employment Contracts and Recruitment Practices ........................................................ 28 International Agreements ............................................................................................. 29 Recent Reforms .............................................................................................................31 V. Forced Labor, Trafficking, Slavery, and Slavery-like Conditions..................................... 34 Forced Labor..................................................................................................................35 Trafficking .................................................................................................................... 38 Slavery and Slavery-like Conditions...............................................................................41 VI. Recruitment and Immigration-related Abuses, and Forced Confinement .......................46 Abuses by Recruitment Agents in Labor-sending Countries........................................... 46 Abuses by Recruitment Agents in Saudi Arabia............................................................. 49 Confinement by Employers ............................................................................................52 VII. Psychological, Physical, and Sexual Abuse................................................................. 61 Psychological and Verbal Abuse................................................................................... 62 Physical Abuse ............................................................................................................. 64 Food Deprivation .......................................................................................................... 66 Sexual Harassment and Abuse ..................................................................................... 67 VIII. Labor Abuses and Exploitation .................................................................................. 72 Low and Unequal Wages ...............................................................................................72 Unpaid Wages and Salary Deductions ...........................................................................74 Excessive Workload, Long Working Hours, Lack of Rest Periods.................................... 78 Inadequate Living Accommodation................................................................................81 IX. Criminal Cases Against Domestic Workers...................................................................83 Procedural Violations ................................................................................................... 83 Countercharges of Theft, Witchcraft, or False Allegations.............................................. 87 “Moral” Crimes............................................................................................................. 89 X. Saudi Protection Measures and Gaps............................................................................ 93 Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA) Center for Domestic Workers ..................................... 94 Deportation .................................................................................................................103 Repatriation of Migrants’ Remains...............................................................................106 The Criminal Justice System.........................................................................................107 XI. Labor-sending Countries’ Protection Measures and Gaps............................................ 113 Constraints to Working in Saudi Arabia........................................................................ 114 Lack of Resources and Uneven Response .................................................................... 116 Arbitration of Labor Disputes by Foreign Missions .......................................................120 XII. Detailed Recommendations.......................................................................................124 To the Government of Saudi Arabia..............................................................................124 To the Governments of Migrants’ Countries of Origin (including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal) ...............................................................................................128 To All Governments .....................................................................................................130 To the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) ........................................................................................................... 131 To Donors such as the World Bank and Private Foundations........................................ 131 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 133 I. Summary Initially I got 400 riyals as my monthly salary. Every two years they increased it by 100 or 200 riyals. By the end I earned 700 riyals [$182]1 per month…. On top of my salary they gave me some extra money when I left for the last time. I used to save money and send the amount of 200 riyals, 500 riyals, or 700 riyals to my house…. My husband spent the money very carefully, used it to build this house, educate and feed my children, and pay their medical expenses. —Fathima F., returned domestic worker, Gampaha, Sri Lanka, November 8, 2006 If I tell my whole story it will not be finished even in a day and a night. When I return home, I will maybe bring nothing…. From 12 midnight to 2:30 a.m. my employer beat me with an electric cable. In the end, she said, “Other madams [employers] would send you home but I won’t. You have only two choices: either you work without a salary, or you will die here. If you die, I will tell the police that you committed suicide.” Even if I worked without a salary, it did not guarantee that I would not be beaten. That is why I escaped. All the doors were locked so there was no way out, the windows had iron bars, but there was a hole for ventilation in the bathroom from which I escaped. Before I escaped, I prayed and asked Allah for help although my body was very dirty since she did not allow me to take a bath for a month. I prayed. —Mina S., Indonesian domestic worker, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 12, 2008 Migration offers both opportunity and risk. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the tremendous flows of contract labor between Asia and the Middle East. On the positive side, workers send home billions of dollars in remittances, which in the 1 Except where otherwise noted, this report uses the exchange rate