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.