Bahrain: A Blanket ban on Indonesian housemaids coming to the GCC is being flouted in Bahrain, an envoy has warned.
Allegations of abuse and unfair treatment led to Jakarta issuing the ban, which came into effect in March.
It blacklisted 21 Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, as destination nations for Indonesia
domestic workers.
However, Indonesian Embassy consular affairs first secretary Fery Iswandy told the GDN that his nationals were still arriving in Bahrain, often via intermediary countries.
“There has been a moratorium set by our government on sending domestic workers to Bahrain and the rest of the GCC,” he said.
“But what we have seen is that women are still arriving here, apparently with valid housemaid visas.
“For us these workers are illegal and need to be deported, but according to Bahrain’s rules they are legal with
proper visas.”
The diplomat claimed that organised networks were in operation, with links in both Manama and Jakarta, which would bring maids to Bahrain by having them travel first to another Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) country.
“We have found these women travel to Malaysia or Singapore and then from there travel to Bahrain,” he said.
“They know the immigration officials in Jakarta will not allow them to leave the country so now they travel to ASEAN countries because they get visa on arrival.”
He said that these women often became “runaways”, absconding from their employers due to contractual violations, and “end up being exploited or becoming victims of human trafficking”.
“In some cases we have found that maids have been lured away from their employers by men who then exploit them.
“We do not have clear information on the Bahrain government’s policy and urge them to immediately stop issuance of housemaid visas for
Indonesians.”
The GDN reported last month on a case in the High Criminal Court, where a vice gang had taken advantage of housemaids by promising them better pay before auctioning them off as prostitutes to the highest bidder.
The gang used car washers, cold store workers and other Indonesian maids as their go-betweens to reach out to
potential victims.
Mr Iswandy said that it was these kinds of abuses that had spurred Jakarta into banning all recruitment of Indonesians as housemaids in the GCC.
However, those already here can continue to stay after an evaluation of their working conditions by the embassy.
The GDN contacted a recruitment agency that quoted a price of BD1,300 for an Indonesian housemaid to legally work in Bahrain.
Official figures released by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority state that there are 12,742 Indonesian domestic workers in Bahrain, which is about 14 per cent of the sector’s total workforce.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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