Domestic workers face abuse

Jordanian director Linda Kalash The director of Jordan\'s \"Tamkeen\" (Empowerment) centre, Linda Kalash, has told Arabstoday that domestic workers in Jordan and other countries are exposed to physical, verbal and sexual violence .\"They are not being dealt with as human beings who have dignity.\" said the activist.
She explained that the Tamkeen centre had dealt with various cases related to slavery, such as Egyptian agricultural workers, whose documents and wages are held back while not being allowed to take their weekly day-off. They are also made to work long hours.
Kalash has won two international awards for her work; the US State Department honoured her and eight other anit-human trafficking crusaders in 2010, and in 2011 she won France\'s human rights prize from foreign minister Alain Juppe.
Here is Arabstoday\'s interview with Linda Kalash:
AT: What are the services does the Tamkeen centre provide to foreign workers?
LK: It works for the protection of migrant workers in general. It receives workers’ complaints and then helps them by providing legal advice and and mediating between workers, their opponents, their lawyers and official bodies. All these services are for free. It also organises awareness campaigns for workers and employers.
AT: What kind of cases does the centre receive?
LK: Some domestic workers are exposed to physical, verbal and sexual violence. Due to their contracts, they cannot report these violations except by escaping from the workplace, which I don’t consider as an escape but a quest for freedom and dignity. What is strange is that women use violence or incite it against other women, which could be some sort of behavioural projection.
AT: How are cases or complaints dealt with?
LK: There are a lot of violations against migrant workers, and neither the government nor civil society institutions respond to that. In the centre, we receive complaints through e-mail, telephone or walk-in complainants. We check complaints and contact the employers. We also deal with cases related to human trafficking. Although it is a crime that has existed since time immemorial and will probably continue forever, it should be combatted. It is considered the slavery of the current era. We have worked many cases that reflect slavery, like the agricultural Egyptian workers whose wages and documents are held back, and who are deprived of their weekly days-off in addition to working for long hours.
Domestic workers also suffer from isolation that increase their feeling of loneliness in a foreign country.
The number of domestic workers and their children that result from rape is not large but they exist.
We also deal with the arbitrary expulsion of migrant workers and their detention in reform centres just because they violated the labour law, although sometimes employers are the reasons behind these violations.
AT: How does Tamkeen increase awareness among workers?
LK: By empowering the workers themselves and making them aware of the necessity to demand their rights. This takes place through direct advice or brochures handed out to them at the airport before they enter Jordan.
AT: What problems are workers exposed to in Jordan?
LK: The employer retaining the worker\'s passport, non-payment of wages, sexual and physical abuse. Agricultural workers are forced to live in houses made of plastic, and are also threatened with weapons.
AT: What are the difficulties you face with employers?
LK: Some of them do not like us informing migrant workers of their rights.
AT: Is the unemployment in Jordan due to the hiring of foreign workers?
LK: I think unemployment in Jordan is a social problem, as Jordanians do not like to work in jobs that require great effort, especially physical labour. They usually do not prefer joining vocational training programmes. Our centre is now studying Jordan\'s need for migrant workers and how to replace them with locals.
AT: Does Jordanian legislation comply with international agreements on migrant workers?
LK: I think that is an urgent necessity, as there are no judges specialised for these cases. There are some legislations that consider international agreements. Court cases take too long, which negatively affects the workers and may make them pay large fines.
AT: How many cases has the centre dealt with since its launch in 2009?
LK: One thousand labour cases.
AT: Are there specialised programmes for those who work for migrant workers cases?
LK: Yes. There training for judges, public security officers, labor ministry employees, as well as the ministry of agriculture.
AT: Why the number of working females is high in Jordan’s civil society?
LK: Because their contribution and productivity is higher.
AT: What is the role of the media in defending migrant workers?
LK: The media inform society of human trafficking, it also has a major role in educating society and gaining support for migrant workers\' cases.
AT: How do you balance your time between work and home?
LK: I work eight hours a day, so the rest is manageable.
AT: How were you able to achieve success in your work and win awards?
LK: Through determination and perseverance.
AT: What are the challenges you face at work?
LK: The face that society and employers look down on foreign workers.
AT: In your opinion, who is more capable of operating civil society institutions?
LK: There is no difference between men and women.
AT: What do you aspire for?
LK: Migrant workers to be looked upon as human beings, and to strengthen the official relationship with them.
AT: Do the working women in Jordan and the Arab world in general gain their rights?
LK: Domestic workers in the Arab world, whether they are Arabs or foreigners, have not received their rights. They are the most exposed to bonded labour, particularly the poor among them. They have to accept humiliating working conditions for their livelihood. As for making handicrafts and clerical jobs, we notice discrimination against women most of the time. Many institutions allow male workers to add a wife and children to their medical insurance, but do not allow female workers to include their husbands.
AT: In your view, are female workers in Arab society the oppressor or oppressed?
LK: Domestic workers are oppressed in most of the cases. The way people see them as inferior makes them seem like a lower class of human being. This oppression may turn them to oppressors. This does not mean they do not make mistakes, like any other human can.