Domestic plight : how Jordanian laws, officials, employers, and recruiters fail abused migrant domestic workers

"Despite significant legal reforms in recent years, the chances of a migrant domestic worker (MDW) having all her human rights respected and protected in Jordan are slim, if non-existent. Domestic Plight records systemic and systematic abuses, in some cases amounting to forced labor, experienced by some of the 70,000 Indonesian, Sri Lankan, and Filipina MDWs in Jordan. Abuses included beatings, forced confinement around the clock, passport confiscation, and forcing MDWs to work more than 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without full pay. MDWs who escaped or tried to complain about abuse found little shelter and agencies forcibly returned them to abusive employers. Jordanian officials provided little help, including prosecutors, who rarely applied Jordan's anti-trafficking law to MDWs. The report traces abuse to a recruitment system in which employers and recruitment agencies disempower workers through deceit, debt, and blocking information about rights and means of redress; and a work environment that isolates the worker and engenders dependency on employers and recruitment agencies under laws that penalize escape. Jordanian law contains provisions, such as allowing confinement and imposing fines for residency violations, which contribute to abuse. The Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which the International Labour Organization adopted in June 2011 with Jordan's support, could change that. Human Rights Watch calls on Jordan to promptly ratify and implement the convention by changing laws and practices that restrict MDWs freedom of movement, such as clauses sanctioning their confinement in the house, and blocking them from returning home unless they pay fines. Labor inspectors should investigate and fine employers who violate Jordan's labor code and prosecutors should more forcefully pursue cases of forced labor for exploitation."--P. [4] of coverHuman Rights Watc