Stuck in legal limbo, Lankan domestic helpers in Jordan demand solution
January 25, 2011 07:37 am
Dozens of Sri Lankan domestic helpers protested at their embassy in Amman, Jordan, demanding that the government allow them to leave the country. Some of the 96 workers have called the embassy home for over a year, others a few weeks. All have fled their employers due to unpaid salaries or abuse, according to the embassy.
Sri Lankan Ambassador Andrayas Mohottala said the embassy has been working with the government to secure workers’ rights and allow them to leave the Kingdom. Facing fees due to expired residency permits, the women cannot afford to leave the country, he said.
“We succeeded in some cases, but in many others we are still waiting for a waiver from local authorities to exempt them from the residency fees so they can be sent back to Sri Lanka,” Mohottala told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the demonstration yesterday.
A committee formed by the government to look into the workers’ cases interviewed 73 of the domestic helpers and recommended that 22 be sent home after all financial obligations are met, he added.
A labour ministry official, who spoke to The Jordan Times on condition of anonymity, said the committee convened last month and recommended that the interior ministry exempt the Sri Lankan workers from their overstay fees.
According to the source, the interior ministry is still looking into the cases and has yet to arrive at a decision. He added that the ministry is pressing the authorities to resolve the issue, which is “hurting the Kingdom’s image at the international level”.
Standard contracts, a draft copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, stipulate that employers are responsible for paying work permit and residency fees. However, according to the ambassador, in many cases, employers refuse to cover the expenses and leave domestic helpers without funds or a way back home.
“After the contract expires, many workers decide they want to go back home, but they cannot leave until the residency fees are paid… This is not their responsibility,” the Sri Lankan envoy said.
Housing and feeding the domestic helpers cost the embassy over JD200 per day, he said, pointing out that his government has agreed to pay for the travel expenses of workers once they are allowed to leave.
Cyno, one of the domestic helpers, said her employment status was the victim of a domestic dispute: Years of service came to an abrupt end when her employers divorced two years ago.
“They stopped paying my salary and the residency fees,” the 38-year-old said, adding that her employer travelled to the US and left her behind to take care of his four children.
“After a while, I couldn’t do it anymore because I had no money and I needed to go home and look after my sick mother and brother,” she said, adding that she turned to the embassy after she was prevented from leaving the country.
She claims that life at the embassy “is no better than prison”.
The embassy provides food, water, shelter and medical care, but the “runaway” domestic helpers are not allowed to leave the premises.
Like Cyno, Megrani hasn’t seen her children since she came to work in Jordan some four years ago. The 38-year-old said she had to change employers three times due to what she claimed was ill-treatment.
“I thought I could save some money to go back and buy a house for my family. I didn’t come here just to eat, drink and sleep,” she told The Jordan Times.
Megrani said she is now willing to give up years of back salary in return for being allowed to go home.
Last August, the Sri Lankan government imposed a ban on sending domestic helpers to Jordan for alleged unpaid salaries and ill-treatment by employers.
According to Mohottala, the ban was lifted on October 1 after recruitment agencies vowed to address all problems faced by the domestic helpers. But they remain at the embassy, with a growing number of Sri Lankan workers seeking refuge from their employers, he said.
As officials sift through layers of bureaucracy, the Sri Lankan domestic helpers said they hope to be freed from their state of legal limbo.
“I had hopes and ambitions when I came to work here,” Megrani said.
“Now all I want to do is leave.” Jordan Times reports.