Cambodian maids made to suffer by recruiters, says report

Monday November 7, 2011
By SHAILA KOSHY
The Star (Malaysia)

KUALA LUMPUR: The failure of the Cambodian and Malaysian governments to regulate recruiters and employers exposed Cambodian migrant domestic workers to a range of abuses, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) survey report.

The report stated that tens of thousands of Cambodian women and young girls migrating here had little protection against forced confinement in training centres, heavy debt burdens, and exploitative working conditions.

It was released in Phnom Penh last week.

In it, HRW urged Cambodia and Malaysia to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention on domestic work, which obligates governments to ensure decent working conditions, impose a minimum age requirement for domestic work, and protect domestic workers from violence and exploitative recruitment practices.

Since 2008, between 40,000 and 50,000 Cambodian women and girls had arrived in Malaysia to be domestic workers.

On Oct 14, the Cambodian government imposed a ban on sending its citizens to work as domestic workers in Malaysia following allegations of abuse.

The report, which documents the Cambodian domestic workers' experiences during recruitment, work abroad, and on their return home, is based on 80 interviews in April and May with migrant domestic workers, their families, government officials, non-governmental organisations, and recruitment agents.

According to HRW, some agents in Cambodia forged identity documents to recruit children as young as 13, offered cash and food incentives that left migrants and their families heavily in debt, misled them about their job responsibilities, and charged excessive recruitment fees.

It said domestic workers talked of how agents forcibly confined recruits for three months or longer in training centres without adequate food, water and medical care.

“Some coerce women and girls to migrate even if they no longer wish to do so. Those who escape from the training centres face retaliation for escaping or for failing to pay debts related to the recruitment process,” it added.

It said workers were not told of the costs for medical tests.

HRW added that a staff member of one recruitment agency had said their management told them to “persuade pregnant women to get an abortion” as they would not be hired otherwise, but that the abortion fee was then deducted from the workers' salary without their knowledge.

HRW said that, at times, collaboration between government officials and private recruitment agencies made it almost impossible for workers to seek effective redress.

Once in Malaysia, HRW said, the workers often have to surrender their passports to their agents/employers, making it harder for them to leave if they were mistreated.

HRW said current Malaysian laws and policies restricted domestic workers' ability to seek redress and to change employers.

It has documented cases where the combination of deception and indebtedness during recruitment, forced confinement, unpaid wages, and threats of retaliation for escaping or failing to pay debts “amounted to forced labour, including trafficking and debt bondage”.

HRW said abused workers often turned to the local agents of their recruitment companies for help, as they are typically the only contact the worker has in Malaysia, but may face intimidation and a return to the same abusive employer.

However, not all domestic workers suffered abuse, noted HRW, adding that some had positive experiences and planned to renew their contracts.

“We spoke to some who said their employers treated them well, paid them on time, and allowed them to remain in touch with their families.”

It urged both governments to increase support services for abused workers, including legal aid and psychosocial services.