Govt urged to ensure security before sending female workers to KSA

The governments of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia need to ensure safety and security of female workers before they join workplaces in the Middle Eastern kingdom, said rights groups.
They also stressed the need for increasing the minimum wage set for housemaids.
Bangladesh is going to initially send mostly female housemaids to Saudi Arabia, according to officials.
Rights organisations said household work for women in Saudi Arabia is very risky as they stay inside the houses of employers all day long and thus are vulnerable to many risks, including sexual harassment, physical torture and other forms of abuse.
An agreement signed with Riyadh on Tuesday provides for sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia on a minimum monthly wage of 800 Riyals, equivalent to Tk 16,600.
The agreement stipulates sending 12 categories of domestic service workers including housemaids, caregivers, gardeners and drivers, said expatriate welfare ministry officials.
Although it is riskier, female workers for housemaid jobs will be the first ones to be sent to Saudi Arabia, as per their demand,’ a senior ministry official told New Age on Wednesday.
The male workers for other domestic jobs will be sent later when employers place recruitment demand to the Bangladesh authorities, the official said.
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit founding chair Tasneem Siddiqui told New Age that it is good news to hear that the labour market in Saudi Arabia has been opened. But it is very risky to send female workers to Saudi Arabia as there are many security risks for female workers there, she said.
Due to risk factors, including sexual harassment and other forms of abuse, Sri Lanka has gradually reduced sending their female workers, while Indonesia and Philippines have already stopped sending housemaids to the country, she said.
Tasneem, also professor of political science at Dhaka University, said before sending female workers, the Bangladesh government should set up enough shelter homes and hotlines in Saudi Arabia, as well as provide mobile phones with local SIM cards to each housemaid to immediately contact embassy officials.
Besides, female workers in Saudi Arabia should have opportunity – at least a day in each month – to visit or talk to embassy officials, she said.
People actually do not know what security or protection measures for female workers were taken in the agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Violation of rights is a serious concern, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program chairman Shakirul Islam said, urging the government to make the agreement public.
Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association director Sumaiya Islam said that the minimum wage set for housemaids was not sufficient.
Secretary of expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry, Khandaker Md Iftekhar Haider, who signed the agreement, told New Age on Wednesday that Bangladesh embassy officials were working to ensure security of about 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers employed in Saudi Arabia
If any recruiting agency, including BOESL and BMET, violate rules in Bangladesh, action will be taken as per law of the land, he said.
The secretary said if Saudi employers violate rules, they will be punished as per laws of Saudi Arabia where there are harder laws existing, he said, adding that new Saudi law incorporated a maximum 15 year imprisonment for violating domestic workers.