Rights group urges KL to protect migrant maids

Rights group urges KL to protect migrant maids

Vijay Joshi, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

International group Human Rights Watch is urging Malaysia to
protect the rights of migrant domestic workers, especially
Indonesians, saying they are regularly falling prey to abusive
employers and labor agents because of inadequate labor laws.

In a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the New
York-based group also called on Malaysia to exempt refugees,
abused migrant workers and trafficking victims from its ongoing
immigration crackdown on illegal migrants who face jail, fines
and caning.

The letter, dated Thursday, May 19, was posted on the group's
website on Wednesday.

"It's time for Malaysia to clean up its own house by extending
labor protections to domestic workers," said LaShawn R.
Jefferson, Womens Rights director at Human Rights Watch, in a
report accompanying the letter. "Domestic workers in Malaysia
continue to face rampant abuse," Jefferson said.

Malaysian government officials did not immediately respond to
the report, which points out that migrant domestic workers are
excluded from a law that otherwise would have ensured them one
rest day a week, and 48 hours per week of work.

In the absence of such protection, Indonesian domestic workers
in Malaysia typically are forced to work 16 to 18 hour days,
seven days a week, while earning less than US$5 a day. More than
90 percent of Malaysia's 240,000 domestic workers are Indonesian.

The Human Rights Watch report is independently corroborated by
anecdotal evidence by many non-governmental organizations, who
say abuse of Indonesian maids is rampant. The Indonesian Embassy
in Kuala Lumpur also receives thousands of complaints from maids
every year.

Many employers hold their maid's salary until the end of the
standard two-year contract. In Malaysia, most domestic workers
are forbidden to leave their workplace and many suffer
psychological, physical, and sexual assault by labor agents and
employers, Human Rights Watch said.

Malaysia is one of the largest importers of foreign labor in
Asia with about 20 percent of its work force comprising of
migrants, primarily employed in construction, palm oil
plantations and domestic service.

Nearly half a million illegal migrants, mostly Indonesians,
left Malaysia during an amnesty period ending Feb. 28. Since
then, the government has been carrying out a crackdown to expel
those left behind.

But "mass expulsions will not solve illegal immigration. The
government must commit itself to meaningful labor reforms and the
prevention of abuse," said Jefferson.

The rights group urged the Malaysian government to amend laws
to provide maids full protection of the law and to impose severe
punishment on agencies that violate guidelines.

It also recommended developing a memorandum of understanding
with Indonesia on domestic workers that contains a standard
contract with provisions on hours of work, rest days, and pay.

It said the Malaysian government has also detained about 1,100
foreigners on the charge of being illegal migrants when in fact
they are believed to be political refugees. About 60 others have
already been convicted and sentenced to caning, jail and fines,
it said.