CARS Introduction

Recently people have started to get more interested in knowing and fighting for the rights
of migrant domestic workers in the Middle East, more specifically Indonesian house maids in
some Asian countries and the Middle East. Yet some people in the Middle East dont really
know that those workers or maids actually have rights, and some just ignore this fact. And in the
same time, huge number of workers or maids dont know that they have the right to stop their
employers from abusing or mistreating them.
In 2015, Michael Holtz wrote an article about a woman from Hong Kong abusing her
Indonesian house maid. Michael Holtz says human rights activists argue that its current law
deter domestic helpers from reporting abuse for fear of being deported. Holtz were talking
about domestic workers in Hong Kong while same issue is present in middle east countries. In
2015, Indonesian government banned Indonesians from working as house maids in some
Middle East countries because of the law in those countries that wasnt protecting house maids
and their rights. Holtz continue to quote Norma Kang Muico a researcher for Amnesty
International, The guilty verdict is a damning indictment of the governments failure to reform
the system that traps women in a cycle of abuse and exploitation. Both of these writers agree
that there is a problem in the law that is causing employers to get away with their abuse and
mistreatment. Also, prevents Indonesian house maids from stopping the abasement and having
their rights.
In an interview done by Khaleej Times with the Indonesian consul Rijal Al-Huda, the
Indonesian consul said Since most of the GCC countries have the same system and majority
still do not have the legal framework like a labour law that caters to the rights of domestic
workers, our government decided to stop sending maids to all countries in the Middle East".
Al-Huda here suggests that there might be something missing in the law of GCC countries, and
that the law needs to be improved so that it can protect the rights of all domestic workers in
GCC countries. Same issue was discussed by the Indonesian minister of Manpower Hanif
Dhakiri as he said migrant workers in Middle Eastern countries were poorly protected from
working and human rights abuses. Almost all previous research about Indonesian maids in the
middle east claims that mistreatment and oppression was due to lack of proper law regulations
that protects domestic workers rights in those countries.
Many other workers in GCC countries dont fight for their rights and dont speak up if
anything is wrong, possibly because they dont know that they have the right to stop the
mistreatment and that it is illegal for their bosses to do such things. In this paper, I present a
solution that could fix this problem. Maids need to be advised about their rights while working in
GCC countries, whether when they arrive here or before even travelling.
 Works Cited

English, Khaosod. "Indonesia declares ban on domestic workers heading to Middle East
By Ahmad Pathoni, dpa." Deutsche Press-Agentur, 5 May 2015, Financial/Business.
NewsBank, infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1552696FE2BD6AD8?p=AWNB.
Accessed 24 Apr. 2017.

Holtz, Michael. "Hong Kong Conviction for Maid Abuse Spotlights Global Rights Battle."
Christian Science Monitor, 10 Feb. 2015. EBSCOhost,
lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=p
wh&AN=100897738&site=eds-live.

Tesorero, Angel. "Stop Hiring Indonesian Maids, Says Consul." Khaleej Times (7/2008 to
4/2009), 15 Feb. 2016. EBSCOhost,
lib-ezproxy.tamu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=p
wh&AN=2W63444421851&site=eds-live.