The Jakarta Post, Thu, 06/30/2011
The Saudi Arabian government has announced plans to stop issuing visas for domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines amid stricter requirements and “unfair” regulatory provisions imposed by the two countries.
“The Ministry of Labor will stop issuing work visas to domestic workers from the Philippine and Indonesia as of Saturday [July 2],” Saudi Ministry of Labor spokesman Hattab Bin Saleh Al-Anzi said Wednesday as quoted by arabnews.com.
Al-Anzi said that Saudi recruitment agents would seek to recruit domestic workers, including maids, from countries other than Indonesia and the Philippines.
The ministry’s decision comes after several other “labor exporting countries evinced a keen interest” to send domestic helpers to work for Saudi families, he said, adding that the ban on recruitment would be followed strictly.
Earlier, Indonesia had also imposed a moratorium on the export of labor to Saudi Arabia after an Indonesian migrant worker, Ruyati binti Satubi, was executed by Saudi authorities after she was convicted of murdering her Saudi employer.
The Indonesian government said the moratorium would come into effect on August 1 and remain in place until the Saudi government agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to protect the rights of Indonesian workers.
Al-Anzi said the Labor Ministry had been working with other countries to meet the shortfall expected from the stoppage of recruitment from Indonesia.
The decision to also suspend recruitment from the Philippine comes after Manila put forward several strict conditions on the recruitment of domestic helpers.
On Wednesday, Albert Q. Valenciano, the labor attaché at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, said he was saddened and amazed at the outcome.
Valenciano added that the embassy had sent a note verbale to the Saudi Foreign Ministry on June 19 to request a joint follow-up meeting, but had received no response. On April 27, the Kingdom had sent a delegation to the Philippines to negotiate the labor dispute, but talks broke down.
Based on estimates from the Philippine government, there are more than 1.2 million Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia, of which about 15 percent or 180,000 are domestic workers such as maids and drivers.
Meanwhile, more than 1 million Indonesian workers are said to be in Saudi Arabia, most of whom are employed as maids.
Previously, Saudi officials announced plans to employ more domestic workers from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Mali and Kenya.
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