A DEDICATED insurance system for domestic staff in Bahrain has been proposed by rights activists.
The system was introduced in Jordan last year and ensures medical, life and personal accident coverage for expat housemaids and other household workers.
However, it also compensates employers in the event of such staff absconding or refusing to work.
Women’s rights activist Mariam Al Ruwai revealed plans to invite Jordanian recruitment agencies to Bahrain to discuss the initiative.
“Often housemaids are stuck inside homes and their voices are rarely heard, but there is definitely denial of rights,” she said.
“Meanwhile, employers spend money on recruitment and have the right to expect the service they are promised.
“We will try to bring representatives from the Recruiting Agents Association (RAA) of Jordan, which got this system implemented in that country, to Bahrain to discuss the proposal.”
Ms Al Ruwai was among participants who took part in an event organised in Qatar earlier this month by the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), which focused on developing the skills of human rights advocates and expat employees in the Middle East.
RAA general secretary Rami Asrawi, who also took part, suggested GCC governments could reduce the exploitation of domestic staff by adopting the Jordanian model.
“The GCC can definitely benefit from this model, as it will help the government eliminate the risk of domestic worker suicides and runaway issues,” he said.
“Domestic workers are at risk because they are not covered by labour laws in the GCC, but they are not slaves.
“(Even when they abscond) the term ‘runaway’ is unacceptable. Society often sees workers as troublemakers and fails to look at why they react.”
He explained the insurance system adopted in Jordan meant it was easier for domestic workers to leave their jobs, since employers could claim compensation for costs incurred.
“If a domestic worker wishes to leave for sane reasons, they should be allowed,” he added.
“This thought made us work towards setting up private insurance for them.”
The scheme was initially made possible when the Jordan Insurance Company agreed to pilot the new insurance product, with relevant government approvals.
“One company came forward to take the risk and we tried it for six months and it was a big success,” said Mr Asrawi.
He said the result had been a drop in complaints relating to the treatment of household staff.
“Complaints are minimal from the domestic worker segment in Jordan since the system has been in place,” he added.
“It costs $320 annually for the first year and then $100 for the subsequent years, but this covers the employee’s ticket, health expenses and the employer’s expenses as per the contract.”
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