Qatar Enacts Key Worker Reforms Amid Criticism

Barrons – AFP, August 30, 2020

Workers on scaffolding at Khalifa International Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha.

Qatar on Sunday introduced a $275 monthly minimum wage and simplified the process for changing employers, the labour ministry said, following criticism of its treatment of foreign labourers.

It comes a week after a stinging Human Rights Watch (HRW) report highlighted the shortcomings of past efforts to improve conditions for the migrant labourers who make up almost 90 percent of the population.

The new rules, which were announced last October 16 but have only now been signed into law, abolish the requirement that workers obtain a "no objection" certificate from their employer to change jobs.

They require all workers, including domestic staff, be paid at least 1,000 riyals ($275) for a month of full-time work -- equivalent to around $1.30 an hour.

Employers are also required to either provide bed and board, or an additional 800 riyal a month allowance for food and accommodation and will have six months to implement the new minimum wage.

Previously, the temporary minimum wage was set at 750 riyals ($206) a month.

"The labour ministry has today taken a major step forward in its labour reform programme by introducing a non-discriminatory minimum wage and removing the no-objection certificate requirement," it said in a statement.

The ministry said the changes would "boost investment in the local economy and drive economic growth".

World Cup milestone

Qatar has made a series of reforms to its employment regulations since being selected to host the 2022 World Cup, which has required a vast programme of construction dependent on foreign workers.

Workers on scaffolding at Khalifa International Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha.

"Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to have a minimum wage for all workers without discrimination, whether domestic workers or private sector workers," Qatar's assistant under-secretary for labour affairs, Mohammed Hassan al-Obaidly, told AFP.

Rights groups have long said Qatar's system -- the same one used across the Gulf -- of private companies rather than the state sponsoring individual workers fuels abuses.

Amnesty International said the requirement to have an employer's agreement before changing jobs had "left migrant workers in Qatar at the mercy of abusive employers".

"We welcome the enactment of these laws, and now call on the Qatari authorities to ensure they are swiftly and properly implemented," said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty's head of economic and social justice.

Vani Sarasawthi, director of projects at the Migrant Rights non-governmental group, said she had already received a flurry of messages about the changes from workers.

HRW said last week that some workers in Qatar were struggling to eat because employers were illegally withholding salaries as economic conditions worsen amid the coronavirus crisis.

The government insisted HRW's survey of 93 migrant workers at 60 companies or employers was not representative and that "nearly all individuals who come to Qatar for employment never experience any form of wage abuse".

Qatar said on Sunday that penalties for non-payment of wages had been increased.

The UN International Labour Organization welcomed the package of reforms, calling them a "historic move".

"Qatar has delivered on a commitment. One that will give workers more freedom and protection, and employers more choice," said Guy Ryder, the ILO director general.

More than two million foreigners work in Qatar, many employed directly or indirectly on vast infrastructure projects for the World Cup.

"The World Cup is a milestone in Qatar's long-term development strategy. In the interests of our country, we will continue to introduce new reforms that benefit the economy, businesses and the people who come to work here," Obaidly said.

Hong Kong domestic worker fired for cancer awarded damages

Yahoo – AFP, April 15, 2019

Baby Jane Allas of the Philippines was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer
in January and fired by her employer, who cited the illness as the reason for
termination (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

A domestic worker sacked after a cancer diagnosis was awarded damages by a Hong Kong court Monday, in a case that highlighted exploitation of foreign women toiling as maids in the wealthy financial hub.

Baby Jane Allas of the Philippines was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer in January and fired the following month by her employer, who cited the illness as the reason for termination.

The 38-year-old single mother of five instantly lost the right to healthcare and has had to regularly apply for visa extensions as she navigated Hong Kong's legal and immigration systems while battling cancer.

She has been undergoing radiation therapy five days a week, along with chemotherapy one day a week.

Allas and her former employer -- who was absent from Monday's proceedings -- reached a settlement of HK30,000 ($3,800) at Hong Kong's labour tribunal for sickness allowance, medical fees and wages in lieu of notice.

"I am standing here right now to encourage more workers to come out if they have these kinds of cases," Allas said outside the hearing.

Allas added she hoped to find another employer "who can really understand my situation and treat me well".

She has separately filed claims with the Equal Opportunities Commission for wrongful termination and loss of earnings, which could be brought to the city's District Court.

Allas previously told AFP that she spent just over a year working for a family of Pakistani origin who ordered her to work every day of the week.

She has also said she was routinely given stale leftovers to eat and slept on a thin comforter in a cluttered store room.

Nearly 370,000 domestic helpers work in the city. Most are poor women from the Philippines and Indonesia performing menial tasks for low wages while living in often miserable conditions.

Allas was accompanied to Monday's hearing by supporters and family, including her eight-year-old daughter, who clung to her waist.

Her plight has generated widespread sympathy in Hong Kong and a fundraising campaign organised by her sister's employer, Jessica Cutrera, has so far raised more than HK$900,000 for treatment.

A large part of Allas' medical bills have been covered by hospital charities but expensive surgery will likely be needed to operate on her tumours, said Cutrera.

Singaporean couple jailed for 'worst of its kind' maid abuse

Yahoo – AFP, March 18, 2019

Singapore has taken a tough stand against maid abuse to protect some 250,000
domestic workers from other parts of Asia who work in the affluent nation for higher
salaries (AFP Photo/Roslan RAHMAN)

A Singaporean couple was on Monday jailed for abusing a Myanmar maid after the pair force-fed her with a funnel, made her eat her own vomit and threatened to kill her family if she reported the maltreatment.

In a case described by Singapore prosecutors as "arguably one of the worst of its kind" in the city-state, the married couple -- who were sentenced two years ago over the abuse of another maid -- beat and kicked their helper and made her clean the house in her underwear.

Moe Moe Than, 32, was also given little food, limited use of the toilet and faced threats that her parents in Myanmar would be killed if she reported the abuse, court documents showed.

District Judge Olivia Low on Monday sentenced the woman, Chia Yun Ling, to 47 months in prison and ordered her to pay a fine. Her husband, Tay Wee Kiat, a former information technology manager, was jailed for 24 months.

They were also ordered to pay compensation to the maid.

The sentence however drew angry reactions online, with readers demanding a harsher punishment.

"Pathetic sentences. Should each be doing 10 years and have their kids taken off them," reader Rich Mackereth wrote on the Facebook page of state broadcaster Channel NewsAsia.

"Such deplorable human beings!! They need also to be whipped and caned," wrote reader Andrew Siah with the symbol of an angry emoji.

The couple's mistreatment of Than during her employment of nearly a year in 2012 was detailed in more than 20 charges.

"In the present case, the accused persons had systematically and persistently abused Moe Moe Than both physically and psychologically throughout the period of her employment," state prosecutors told the court, also noting a lack of remorse from the couple.

One charge said Chia, a former senior sales manager, force-fed the maid a mixture of rice and sugar through a funnel after the helper told her she did not have enough food to eat.

This caused the victim to choke and she ran to the toilet to throw up, the charge said.

Chia followed, scolded and slapped the maid, and instructed her to throw up into a plastic bag "and thereafter (made) to eat her own vomit," the charge added.

The same couple were in March 2017 sentenced to jail terms for abusing their Indonesian maid -- the husband for two years and four months and the wife for two months. They have yet to serve those sentences.

Singapore has taken a tough stand in prosecuting abusers to protect some 250,000 domestic workers from other parts of Asia who work in the affluent nation for higher salaries.

In February, a Singaporean salon manager who abused her Myanmar maid by forcing her to pour hot water on herself was jailed for three years.

And in March 2017, a Singaporean couple who starved their Filipina maid had their jail sentences increased to 10 months by the High Court after an appeal by the prosecution.

The High Court had agreed that their original jail terms ranging from three weeks to three months were "patently and manifestly inadequate".

Abused Hong Kong maid Erwiana 'rises again'

Yahoo - AFP, Agus Purwanto, 28 September 2018

Erwiana now works on behalf of migrant workers

She was once the face of abused maids in Hong Kong -- imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions.

But four years after her horrific ordeal made global headlines, Indonesian Erwiana Sulistyaningsih is a university graduate and fighting for the rights of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city and beyond.

Erwiana completed a degree in economics this month -- the culmination of a dream that brought her to Hong Kong in 2013 before her life was turned upside down.

"Before I went to Hong Kong, I had been dreaming I could make enough money to study," the 27-year-old told AFP from her home in Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta.

"After the incident, I thought I might have to give up on that dream."

Erwiana's employer Law Wan-tung was jailed after pictures of her extensive injuries went viral in 2014.

Widespread media coverage of Erwiana's torture had one unexpected benefit -- she was offered scholarships to study.

"I'm happy but it's bittersweet because even though I graduated university there are still many migrant workers who are persecuted and treated badly," she said.

She chose economics partly to understand "why so many people in this world have to migrate" for work.

"People should be able to live peacefully in their own country without having to work abroad unprotected," she said.

Erwiana plans to take that message to demonstrations outside the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Bali next month.

Erwiana's horrific ordeal made global headlines

She now works on behalf of migrant workers, including pushing for the release of former Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso who is on death row in Indonesia for drug smuggling.

Most domestic workers in Hong Kong are from poor communities in Indonesia and the Philippines and are vulnerable to abuse by employers and employment agencies.

Migrants from both countries have also suffered injury -- or worse -- in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

In February, the death of a Filipina maid in Kuwait, whose body was found this year stuffed in a freezer, sparked outrage in the Philippines.

Also this year, Indonesian domestic helper Adelina Sau died in hospital after being rescued from her employer's house in Malaysia's Penang state, with wounds covering her body. Her boss was charged with murder.

It is these stories that prompted Erwiana to fight for workers' rights, and never give up on herself even when she doubted her chances.

"I never imagined I'd be here -- I almost gave up," she said.

"I was so sick, I was a failed migrant worker and my injuries were all over the media.

"But because my family and fellow migrant worker friends gave me strength, I finally had the spirit to rise again."

VIDEO: A former Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions. But four years later, she now fights for the rights of domestic helpers around the world https://t.co/RYY89JL6rA pic.twitter.com/kn1yXP9R6y

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 28, 2018

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih arrives at the Wanchai Law Courts to begin giving

 evidence against her former employer who is accused of abuse and torture, in

Hong Kong on Monday. (AFP Photo/Isaac Lawrence)

Related Article:

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Indonesian maid to return to Hong Kong to help torture probe

Jokowi to Scrap ID Card for Indonesian Migrant Workers

Kuwait, Philippines sign deal to regulate domestic labour

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2018

Filipino workers arrive to Manila International Airport from Kuwait on February 18,
2018, after the murder of a Philippine maid sent hundreds of women streaming
back home (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait and the Philippines signed a deal on Friday to regulate domestic workers, after a dispute between the two countries led to a ban on Filipino workers in the Gulf state.

"A short time ago we signed an agreement between the two countries on the employment of domestic workers," Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah told a joint press conference with his Filipino counterpart Alan Peter Cayetano.

In February Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a partial ban on workers travelling to Kuwait after a Filipina maid was murdered and her body found in a freezer.

The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities in April expelled Manila's ambassador over video footage of Philippine embassy staff helping workers escape employers accused of mistreatment.

Cayetano said a new ambassador to Kuwait would soon be appointed and that he would advise Duterte to "immediately" lift the ban.

"I think the crisis is over. We will move on with the bilateral relations and we will resume normal ties with Kuwait," said an official with Cayetano's delegation.

He added that the agreement "gives a number of rights to Philippine workers".

A copy of the agreement seen by AFP says that workers will be allowed to keep their passports and cellphones -- often confiscated by employers.

It stipulates that contract renewals should be approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, instead of being automatically renewed.

Employers must provide domestic workers with food, housing, clothing and health insurance, according to the document.

About 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, 60 percent of them in domestic labour, according to Manila.

More than two million Filipinos are employed across the Gulf.

Rights groups have repeatedly urged Gulf states to reform their labour laws to cover domestic workers and provide them with "equal protections" available to other workers.

'Tortured' Indonesian maid listed on Time's top 100

Yahoo – AFP, 25 April 2014

Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih leaves the hospital in Sragen

district in central Java island on February 5, 2014 (AFP Photo/Anwar Mustafa)

Hong Kong (AFP) - Time magazine has named an Indonesian maid allegedly tortured by her Hong Kong employer as one of the world's 100 most influential people, putting the spotlight on the city's treatment of its migrant workers.

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 23, reportedly suffered months of abuse in a case which has renewed concerns over the treatment of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city and sparked angry protests.

Time magazine hailed Sulistyaningsih's bravery in speaking out against her employer and pushing for laws that better protect maids in Hong Kong.

A member of a support group for Erwiana

 Sulistyaningsih, an Indonesian maid allegedly

 tortured by her Hong Kong employer, holds a

 placard during a rally outside the Indonesian

consulate in Hong Kong on April 8, 2014

(AFP Photo/Philippe Lopez)

"It is brave women like her who speak up for the voiceless who will create lasting change," Cambodian activist Somaly Mam said of Sulistyaningsih in the list published on Thursday.

"Erwiana is advocating for better laws to protect others who may share her fate, placing a spotlight on the plight of a vulnerable and often invisible population," Mam said.

Time's recognition of Sulistyaningsih brings international attention to the treatment of migrant domestic workers in the city, Hong Kong-based Asian Migrants' Coordinating Body spokesman Eman Villanueva told AFP on Friday.

"The inclusion itself only proves that the issue of migrant domestic workers, the slavery, the exploitation and abuse is something that the international community should pay attention to," Villanueva said.

He described the situation as "ripe for abuse" in the city, where maids are required to live with their employers.

Villanueva also said Erwiana's actions and her inclusion on the list will help empower more victims to speak out.

"This would encourage and would strengthen the resolve of many other victims to come out in the open and fight for their rights and seek justice," he said.

Law Wan-tung, a 44-year-old Hong Kong mother-of-two has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Sulistyaningsih.

Prosecutors have alleged that Law turned household items such as a mop, a ruler and a clothes hanger into "weapons" against Sulistyaningsih.

She was also charged with common assault and four counts of criminal intimidation -- charges related either to Sulistyaningsih or to her two previous Indonesian domestic helpers.

Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih

 looks on from a hospital bed in Sragen

district in central Java island on February 5,

 2014 (AFP Photo/Anwar Mustafa)

The trial has been adjourned to April 29, with officials awaiting the maid's medical records from Indonesia.

Sulistyaningsih was admitted to hospital in Sragen, on Indonesia's main island of Java, in critical condition after returning from Hong Kong in January.

The Asian financial hub is home to nearly 300,000 maids, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, and criticism from rights groups over their treatment is growing.

Amnesty International in November condemned the "slavery-like" conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong and accused authorities of "inexcusable" inaction.

Time magazine's list also included Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban attack in 2012 when she was shot in the head by the militants for campaigning for girls' education.

Related Articles:

Employer of Abused Indonesian Maid Faces More Charges in Hong Kong

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Domestic workers around the world: the big picture

There are an estimated 52 million domestic workers worldwide, but the kafala system in the Middle East can make life particularly hard there

The Guardian, Leila Haddou, Wednesday 26 February 2014

Foreign maids gather in Central, the business district in Hong Kong. Only 10%
 of domestic employees worldwide have the same rights as other workers. Photograph:
Kin Cheung/Associated Press

The number of domestic workers has surged in recent years to at least 52 million people worldwide, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), though the real figure may be far higher. In all, 83% are women and 45% have no entitlement to weekly rest periods or paid annual leave.

Only 10% of domestic workers are covered by general labour legislation to the same extent as other workers. More than a quarter are excluded from national labour laws, the ILO says.

The kafala system in the Gulf exacerbates their precarious position, ILO experts say, by requiring every foreign worker in Qatar to have a local sponsor who employs them and supervises their stay. It exists in different forms across the Gulf. According to Human Rights Watch, the "sponsorship law prohibits migrant workers from changing jobs without their employer's consent; even when employers fail to pay competitive wages, provide decent conditions, or meet the conditions of the employment contract, workers cannot simply change jobs."

The law requires employers to report workers who quit without permission for "absconding", an offence leading to their detention and deportation. It also requires workers to secure exit permits from their employers before leaving.

These conditions make migrant workers particularly vulnerable to forced labour. Azfar Khan, a senior migration specialist for the ILO, says: "The kafala system destroys the balance between employer and employee. Workers can be subjected to moral, sexual and physical abuse.

"In many states proposals for new laws have been sat on in parliament for years, and the rules that are eventually made are unenforceable.

"There is a hierarchy in these countries. If somebody has a well-educated, highly skilled Filipino maid, everyone else wants one too. It's like keeping up with the Joneses," Khan explains.

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Saudi Arabia Migrant Moratorium Still Stands

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Plight of Domestic Workers in Indonesia Is Seen as Mirroring Slavery

Jakarta Globe, Vita A.D. Busyra,February 25, 2014

A domestic worker being identified for work at an employment
center in Cipete, Jakarta. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Jakarta. The allegation that a retired police general and his wife held 16 domestic workers in captivity and tortured them in their Bogor, West Java, mansion, is a form of modern-day slavery that is only one of countless such incidents occurring behind the high walls of luxury homes in Indonesia.

Anis Hidayah, executive director of Jakarta-based Migrant Care, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday that such practices are physically concealed but occur all around us, stripping those silent victims of their most basic of human rights: freedom.

“Many of us are still trapped in the feudalistic mentality, always wanting to be served,” she said, comparing the situation to the early years of the American colonies, when Europeans desperate to cross the ocean ended up signing contracts of debt bondage or indentured servitude.

“Although indentured servants are needed to work only for a limited period, as stated in the signed contract, many were exploited as low-cost laborers and severely maltreated. Ironically, such cases occur in Indonesia today,” she said.

Mutiara Situmorang and her husband, retired police general Mangisi Situmorang, were reported to the police after one of their 16 domestic workers — half of whom were under the legal working age of 17 — fled the mansion last week, claiming she had suffered from physical abuse.

The 17-year-old, Yuliana Lewer, said she was forced to work more than 12 hours a day, and Mutiara would beat her if she made any mistake.

Anis said this case was not unique as many domestic workers in the country have similar experiences.

Similar cases

In June last year, 18-year-old Siti Nur Amalah, a housemaid working in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, went to the police after her employers, husband and wife couple Usman and Dina, had been beating her since 2012, resulting in permanent blindness. Usman had also frequently sexually abused the teenager.

“I was often told to strip naked, and he then touched my private parts,” she told MetroTVnews.com.

Police said they were still investigating the matter.

In October, the Supreme Court handed down a longer jail term to Lidya Natalia and her mother Tan Fang May for torturing their maid, Marlena, 16.

“She was chained like a dog, and beaten and soaked in the bathtub,” a judge told Detik.com.

Also in October that year, the same court punished Sri Sunarti, 29, and Yudaka, 63, for torturing their 17-year-old housemaid, Kaminah, since 2008.

Semarang-based Perisai, a child labor advocacy group, said they received reports from 30 house workers in 2012 alone who were victims of abuse at the hands of their employers.

“They have been raped, beaten and scolded almost every day of their employment,” the group said in a statement.

Anis said based on data from Walk Free Foundation’s inaugural Global Slavery Index 2013, “some 29.8 million [people] are still forced to live in slavery around the world, with some 21 million slaves in Asia, including Indonesia.”

Data from the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT) stated 1,273 abuse cases [of domestic workers] were reported from 2011 to 2012 nationwide. In 2013, they received 650 reports of maid abuse.

Jala PRT estimates more than 10 million people currently work as maids in Indonesia.

Human trafficking

Alvon Kurnia Palma, chairman of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) feared these cases might indicate human trafficking, though further investigation was still needed.

“These cases of abuse not only involve torture, but also forced captivity and perhaps even human trafficking. In the latter, young domestic workers are recruited, transported, delivered and finally cheated out of their wages and freedom,” he said on Monday.

In the Bogor case for instance, Alvon questioned how Mutiara was able to recruit so many girls, and more importantly, who supplied them.

“We need to find out whether these workers were taken from a broker or formal agency. And if a broker was involved, we need to find out whether he or she had the legal authority to do so.”

Alvon doubted the recruiting agency was legal.

“If they have a [proper] license, why did they recruit children of under the age of 18?” he asked.

Alvon demanded the police to investigate every lead, every person who was involved, up to the recruiting agency to prevent similar cases in future.

“No one is exempt from the law, whoever the abuser may be — even the wife of a well-known general, for example, will not be given legal leeway,” he said.

Sri Nurherwati, a commissioner at the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), condemned Mutiara for mistreating her domestic workers and holding them hostage. Sri also urged the police to punish the guilty accordingly, so they may never commit the same atrocities again.

Weak protection

Sri said no form of legal protection exists for household workers in Indonesia.

Any law that applies to them are weak at best, making them dependent on the “kindness” of their employers — a situation similar to slavery.

“Many of these housemaids live with their employers. They are placed in a ‘lower’ position and feel they cannot speak up for their rights,” she explained. “They are dependent on their employer. So, we must establish a legal means to protect them.”

She lamented the continued 10-year delay in the deliberations of the domestic worker protection bill in the House of Representatives. The bill, she said, would cater to the main interests of Indonesia’s domestic workers by touching on issues including minimum wage and working hours, with clear punishments outlined for employers who violate the regulations.

“We [Komnas Perempuan] have urged the House many times to discuss and then pass the bill. But the lawmakers somehow believe cases tortured maids can be resolved through existing laws,” Sri said.

However, the increasing number of abuse cases against domestic workers proves current laws fail to protect them.

“Maids, who fall into informal sectors, will still be vulnerable to mistreatment. If we do not have a form of legal protection emphasizing domestic workers as being part of the wheel of economic development, how can we consider a housewife’s job as honorable?” she said.

Anis Hidayah added that household maids work within the obstructing walls of a home; no one would bear witness to any form of abuse, and the government would not be able to intervene unless the victim voluntarily approached the police.

“There is no reason for holding back the draft bill as this [abuse] truly degrades human kind,” she said.

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US diplomat row overlooks Indian maids' plight

Google – AFP, Rachel O'Brien (AFP), 21 December 2013

Members of The All India Students Federation shout slogans and wave placards

 during a protest in front of the US consulate in Hyderabad on December 19, 

2013 (AFP/File)

Mumbai — Americans were shocked at the alleged $3.31-per-hour wage paid to an Indian diplomat's housekeeper in a case that has sparked global outrage. But to Rupa Thakur, who does the same job in Mumbai, it sounded like a small fortune.

The mother-of-three works 13 hours a day, six days a week for a family in the suburbs of India's financial capital, taking home 8,000 rupees ($130) a month -- or about 38 US cents an hour.

"Life is tough," said Thakur, 39, who moved to the city from Nepal as an uneducated girl to find work.

"After daily expenses and paying my children's school and college fees, I can save only around 2,000 rupees. With everything getting costlier every day, it is difficult for people like us."

India erupted in fury last week over America's strip-search and arrest of an Indian diplomat accused of underpaying her housekeeper. But the story of the maid herself has received far less attention back home.

Domestic service is a prominent feature of life in urban India, with a maid seen as a stamp of middle-class membership. Many of those who can afford it also have drivers, cooks and nannies.

Too many hours, too little cash

Such workers often start as young women or girls, like Thakur, who travel from rural areas to try to make a living and support their families, but who often end up working too many hours for too little cash, activists say.

While New York rigidly enforces laws to ensure even the lowliest employees get no less than $7.25 an hour, such legislation is almost entirely absent for Indian domestic workers.

"They need some kind of standardised wage practice in force," said Mumbai social worker Avisha Kulkarni, who campaigns on the issue.

There are also frequent reports of domestic servants being abused by their wealthy employers.

In November, a New Delhi court ordered an Indian lawmaker and his wife to be held in police custody for allegedly torturing to death a maid at their home.

The case came soon after a teenage maid was rescued from another upscale Delhi home by police and social rights campaigners, who said she had been slashed with knives and mauled by dogs.

The Global Slavery Index, released in October, found an estimated 13.95 million people in India are victims of forced labour -- making up almost half of the world's slave population. Domestic service is a key area of concern.

"The central government has completely ignored the conditions of domestic workers," said Anannya Bhattacharjee, executive council member of the New Trade Union Initiative, who is based in northern Haryana state.

"It's part of Indian feudal tradition. There's always talk of domestic workers being part of the family but they want to be treated as workers," she said.

But there are also signs of change within the industry.

While demand remains high, Kulkarni said fewer women were willing to serve as live-in maids for one household, preferring to work at a number of homes and charge per task, such as cleaning utensils or washing clothes.

"The standard and cost of living has gone up," Kulkarni said, adding that many maids had high aspirations for their children and wanted them well-educated.

"They treat us so rudely"

This was the case for Pushpa Khude, another housekeeper in Mumbai, who financed her two children's college education and whose son is now a bank manager.

Khude, 45, cleans and cooks in several households and takes home 24,000 rupees ($385) a month -- a relatively high sum for her job in India -- after starting work at the age of six watering plants for a Bollywood actor.

Nowadays she only works for expatriates, with no desire to take on Indian employers.

"I'm Indian, but I'm disappointed because other Indians aren't giving us (maids) respect or any responsibility," she said.

"They treat us so rudely and they don't trust us or give us holiday."

US attorney Preet Bharara, the prosecutor who spearheaded Khobragade's arrest proceedings, wondered why there was little concern in India for the maid and her family.

"One wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?" he said in comments earlier this week.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, points out that millions of mostly women and girls perform "crucial jobs" around the world as domestic helpers, often enabling employers to pursue careers.

But she said that in India and elsewhere, they remain "among the most exploited", despite a new international treaty adopted in 2011 to improve their rights.

"India should sign the Domestic Workers Convention, encourage domestic workers to organise, and ensure that their complaints of abuse, including sexual abuse, are promptly addressed," Ganguly said.

"Quite often domestic workers fear reprisals and don't come forward with their complaints. Proper witness protection systems should be provided."

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A domestic helper from Mindoro island gathers hanging clothes in Manila on

September 6, 2012 (AFP/File, Jay Direct