Decision to stop recruitment of Filipina maids welcomed

Human rights groups on Wednesday welcomed a decision by the government of the Philippines to stop sending domestic helpers to Jordan, saying such a step would highlight the abuse Philipinos and other nationals are subjected to at the hands of Jordanian families that employ them. "These types of measures will positively contribute to providing protection to domestic helpers who suffer due to lack of proper legislations that could protect them," said Assem Rababah, President of the Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) in Amman, Jordan. Hundreds of Filipina domestic helpers working with Jordanian families are being physically and sexually abused, and spend months or years without being paid, according to rights activists. In response, the Ministry of Labour in the Philippines announced earlier this week it had suspended sending domestic workers to Jordan. Renae Villa, the Philippines Consul General in Amman, said the embassy has become a safe-house for hundreds of maids who suffer from all kinds of mistreatment, including long working hours, lack of food, verbal insults, physical and sexual abuse, and non-payment of wages. "We have several cases where maids have not been paid for up to two years," Villa told IRIN. "This is not how you treat humans. How do you expect someone to live that long without being paid?" Villa said contract discrepancies over what is agreed upon in the Philippines and what actually happens in Jordan are common. "Our government does not allow maids to work abroad for less than US $200 a month," he said. "But when they arrive here, they are paid $150 a month or less." The Jordanian government blames these salary discrepancies on recruitment agencies and plans to launch a crackdown campaign that will close down any agency found in violation of the law. It has already suspended issuing permits to agencies that wish to import foreign workers. "The temporary suspension was taken in order to control a chaotic domestic helpers market, which has been witnessing ever-increasing abuse of domestic helpers," said an official at the Jordan Labour Ministry, who requested anonymity. The labour ministry last month set up a special unit to handle complaints from foreign domestic workers. Its head, Yousef Saaban, said hundreds of complaints have already been registered. He called on domestic helpers to inform the ministry or their embassies about any incidents of mistreatment. "The problem we face is that many domestic helpers spend years with their sponsors silently facing all types of abuse for fear of retaliation." According to labour ministry figures, Jordan is home to 60,000 domestic helpers, predominantly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. MBH/AR/AD