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Mafia trap' for runaway housemaids A leading recruiter warns against a "network of traders" luring housemaids into illegal practices Publish Date: Tuesday,14 July, 2009, at 01:08 AM Doha Time By Anwar Elshamy Staff Reporter A leading recruiter and supplier of domestic workers has cautioned against a "network of traders" who lures housemaids into illegal practices, including prostitution and assists them to run away from their employers. Saqr Ibrahim Ghanim, general manager of Jassim Decoration and Services Company, accused "mafias" of providing refuge to runaway maids and helping them to work with others. "There is a network of men and women running a racket to target housemaids and tempt them with higher salaries to abscond," Ghanim told Gulf Times. "The network helps them to run away and employ them in activities like prostitution or in hotels or wedding halls," he alleged. "This mafia has created a black market where people can obtain a housemaid without enduring any liabilities." Ghanim, who has been in the manpower supplying business for 20 years, dismissed as "nonsense" a recent human rights committee report which referred to abuses of maids by their employers, saying that on the contrary "employers are the victims of abuse by maids". "The human rights reports usually exaggerate the issue and rely on individual cases of maids beaten up by their employers," Ghanim said. "There is a wrong perception depicting housemaids as victims who are always beaten up by their sponsors. Of all the housemaids who seek the help of my agency, I have found that sponsors are to blame in only 10% of the cases; in some 60% of the cases, the maids are responsible for the problem and 30% comprise issues arising because of misunderstanding between the two parties," he said. "But most people ignore the sufferings that sponsors have to endure because of their maids' illicit behaviour and obstinacy." He called for "effective measures" to tackle the growing trend of maids running away, saying that the practice could create social and economic woes to the community. A recent report by the National Human Rights Committee raised concern over abuses committed against maids who do not enjoy the coverage of the Qatari labour law.
