Authorities in Bahrain have been urged to protect the rights of domestic workers by sincerely implementing the provisions of existing legislations.
The appeal was issued by the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) to mark the International Domestic Workers Day which was observed globally yesterday.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers. Of the 75.6 million domestic workers worldwide, 76.2 per cent are women.
“There are legislations in place in Bahrain that protect the rights of domestic workers until the end of their service, but what is lacking is their implementations on the ground,” said GFBTU member and Fairway Programme Bahrain co-ordinator Suad Mubarak during an online event yesterday.
“There are still issues related to passport confiscation and unpaid wages that need to be streamlined rather than passed from one entity to another,” she added.
The Fairway Programme is an inter-regional initiative to improve labour migration conditions from Africa to the Arab states, and to protect all vulnerable migrant workers in the Arab states.
Launched on December 1, 2019, the four-year programme will contribute to enabling migrant workers to contribute to sustainable development in both countries of origin and destination.
It is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation and implemented in Bahrain by the ILO in partnership with the GFBTU.
Ms Mubarak said the GFBTU continues to receive cases of sponsors withholding passports of housemaids, or not paying them salaries on time, despite the introduction of the Wage Protection System (WPS) under which wages ought to be directly deposited in the employee’s bank account by the employer.
The first phase of the rollout also covered domestic workers, though it was not obligatory for employers to commit to the WPS.
“Labour inspectors cannot enter households to check on the status of domestic workers, and if these workers report their complaint to the police, then the process to resolve the problem becomes time-consuming,” added Ms Mubarak.
“Another big problem is related to undocumented or runaway domestic workers who provide their services on an hourly basis and, most importantly, have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 since they don’t have the documents.”
The overall number of illegal migrants in Bahrain has reached 67,689, according to the latest data.
Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan told Parliament in January that 2,596 runaway housemaids (of which 1,693 were Ethiopians) had been reported by employers over the last two years.
Ms Mubarak added that the pandemic created new problems affecting the employer-employee relationship, such as complaints of not being granted days off or not being paid.
The unionist said in most cases the GFBTU had dealt with, the domestic workers had not received their end-of-service indemnity.
“I have a case of a domestic worker who has completed her contract and wants to return home, but the employer is refusing to let her go because it is tough to find a replacement due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.”
Ms Mubarak yesterday released a promotional video in partnership with the GFBTU to mark the occasion; it features two domestic workers who speak about their experiences.
Since 2017, Bahrain has launched a series of labour reforms including the introduction of a unified standard contract for domestic workers to protect their rights, imposing a fine on or revoking the licence of rogue recruitment agencies, and a dedicated shelter operated by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority in Sehla for distressed expats.
By the fourth quarter of last year, Bahrain had 65,628 domestic workers (including 45,962 females), compared with 84,010 in the same quarter in 2019 – a decrease of 21pc.
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