17 maids have died abroad

17 maids have died abroad

JAKARTA (JP): Seventeen Indonesian housemaids died abroad
while 46 others were either tortured or sexually abused over the
past year, a report said.

The report, compiled by Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's
Solidarity), a non-governmental organization for the protection
of Indonesian women's rights, said the housemaids worked in
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi
Arabia and Lebanon.

Chairperson Tati Krisnawaty said that two female workers died
after they fell from their employers' apartments in Singapore.

One worker was burned to death in Hong Kong, another died of
an unspecified accident in Malaysia and the other, Solihah, was
beheaded in Saudi Arabia in October for killing her employer.

Tati said the cause of the deaths of the other 12 women
remained unknown as the organization failed to obtain the
information from related authorities of the countries where they
worked.

"Violence against Indonesian female workers abroad was
'systematic' and yet the government failed to undertake a
fundamental effort to protect female migrant workers," she said.

She also condemned the employers, who had violently
intimidated the workers, robbed them of their rights, physically
and sexually harassed them and, in some cases, raped them.

"This violence against female workers caused both physical and
psychological scars, shocked them and even ended in their death,"
she said.

Tati's statement coincides with the International Anti-
Violence Against Women Day, which falls today. (09)