Muscat: Ethiopian government has clamped a ban on its citizens to work as maids in the Sultanate as the two countries do not have any formal treaty on recruiting manpower.
As the number of Ethiopians travelling abroad in search of a better future has been going up, the African nation's government has been stepping up efforts to protect its citizens abroad.
"As we don't have any manpower recruitment treaty signed with the Sultanate, it is illegal for our citizens to travel to the Sultanate to work as housemaids.
"The same is applicable for those who wish to travel to Bahrain to work as housemaids,- Dr Zerihun Kebede, deputy minister of labour and social affairs, said in an Ethiopian national television interview.
The country has already imposed a temporary ban on its citizens working as maids in Dubai.
"There are only seven legal agencies in Ethiopia who are authorised to send maids to Dubai.
In the past two years, they have sent around 1,040 maids. But we found that around 365 Ethiopians are travelling to Dubai to work as maids with the help of illegal agencies, which is unsafe. So we have imposed a temporary ban on Ethiopians travelling to Dubai,- Dr Zerihun Kebede, said.
Recently, after the Asian nations imposed strict regulations on recruitment of housemaids from their countries, people of Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) were recruiting housemaids from African countries, especially Ethiopia.
According to the recruiting agents, employers are turning to "cheaper- and "hassle free- African workers to avoid "stringent recruitment laws- imposed by Asian countries. In the past two years, the demand for African workers has seen a steady rise in Oman.
Times of Oman reported in April that local manpower agents now see a shift in the pattern of recruitment of workers in the retail sector, for office jobs and also for domestic employment.
Most of the African workers come from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
Some employers also recruit Ethiopians and those from the Republic of Congo. However, some said that Omanis are trying to revive the links with the Sultanate's former African colonies.
Meanwhile, an Ethiopian social worker said that Ethiopians who are coming to Oman to work are doing so on their own accord.
"As our country doesn't have any treaty with the Sultanate we won't get an official security guarantee. We even don't have a consulate or our government representatives in the Sultanate. The ambassador in Yemen is in charge of our affairs. The Ethiopians who are coming to the Sultanate are doing so on their own will,- the social worker added.
As the number of people travelling to the Sultanate has been going up, the Ethiopian Airlines has recently started to operate daily flights which was only once in a week earlier.
"Nowadays, a lot of Ethiopians are coming to the Sultanate in search of a better future. Most of the times, we feel stranded as our country doesn't have any official representatives here. We don't even know how many of our fellow citizens are here in the Sultanate. There are no groupings and associations,- the social worker added.
© Times of Oman 2012
