Singapore must halt maid abuse: HRW
Singapore must halt maid abuse: HRW
Reuters, Singapore
A human rights group urged Singapore on Tuesday to provide better legal protection for foreign maids, many of whom face "abysmally" long hours, "pitiful" wages and conditions amounting to "forced labor".
The 128-page report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) is based on 90 interviews and case studies and describes numerous instances of cruelty and abuse. It included comments based on interviews with Singapore government officials.
"A system that excludes a class of workers from labor protections, leaving them to work for sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for pitifully low wages is one that demands serious and meaningful reform," the report said.
By excluding maids from its Employment Act, Singapore's labor laws fail to comply with international law, it said.
About 150,000 women -- mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka -- work as maids in Singapore, with roughly one in every seven Singaporean households employing a live-in worker so that couples can work and raise families.
For the migrant workers, a job abroad is a chance to earn more money and support families back home. Migrant workers from the Philippines, India, Pakistan and other countries send as much as US$100 billion in remittances a year to their home countries.
HRW has investigated abuses against maids in countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, as well as looking at their treatment in their home countries, such as Indonesia.
"Singapore isn't the worst, but it's far from the best," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW at a press conference.
"The real comparison is with Hong Kong. Singapore is so much weaker than Hong Kong," Roth said, given that Hong Kong includes domestic workers in its main labor laws, protecting their rights to a weekly rest day, a minimum wage, maternity leave, public holidays, and paid annual leave.
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower issued a statement shortly after the release of the report, saying that it "grossly exaggerates the abuse and lack of rights" of maids in Singapore.
"Individual (maids) enter into contracts with their employers which specify the terms of employment," the ministry said.
"On their own accord, (maids) choose to work in Singapore because of better conditions here compared to their home and other countries ... The majority of (maids) enjoy meaningful and safe employment in Singapore."
The report "Maid to Order - Ending abuses against migrant domestic workers in Singapore" said that maids in Singapore frequently worked 13-19 hours a day, with no day off.
They faced sexual, verbal and physical harassment; were deprived of food, salaries, religious freedom, and social contact; were forced to do work outside the scope of their contracts; and in the worst cases, died in workplace accidents or committed suicide.
Many were abused by employment agencies in Singapore and by their employers, and were too scared to complain or press charges for fear they would be deported without their salaries, HRW said.
"This is a serious problem. We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Roth.
He said the Indonesian embassy receives about 50 complaints a day from Indonesian maids, while the death toll -- 147 maids have died in accidents or suicides in the last five years in Singapore -- "speaks volumes about the level of the problem."
While the government has tightened some regulations covering maids, the report said several policies actually exacerbate domestic workers' isolation in homes and their risk of abuse.
Maids are not allowed to marry Singaporeans or get pregnant -- rules which are not applied to other classes of foreigners such as bankers and investors. One domestic worker, Rita Yuboc, described her working conditions as follows in the report:
"I woke up at 4 a.m. Some employers are like that, they don't want you to sleep or take a rest. I would take my baths quickly. My employer would knock on the door 'I didn't tell you you could take a bath'. Sometimes employers want the maid to clean until 10 p.m. or 12 a.m. and to start working again at 6 a.m."
The report follows a string of embarrassments in recent weeks for Singapore, at a time when its government is eager to portray the country as an attractive tourist and investment destination.
Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock last week said Singapore's decision to hang an Australian drug smuggler was "barbaric." In October, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in its press freedom index.