Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — The Ministry of Labor (MOL) is considering recruiting housemaids from Sierra Leone and Vietnam after a temporary halt to the recruitment of labor from Ethiopia, Al-Watan daily reported Wednesday quoting Deputy Labor Minister Mofarej Al-Haqbani. He said: “The ministry is working now to open recruitment of housemaids from Sierra Leone, Vietnam and other manpower exporting countries. “Draft bilateral agreements have already been sent to these countries to organize the recruitment process.” Addressing journalists during a ministry-organized Eid ceremony on Tuesday, he said the ministry was expected to sign agreements for the recruitment of housemaids with 15 other countries. The ministry had previously announced that it was expecting to sign agreements for the recruitment of housemaids with Indonesia and India.”Negotiations with the two countries in this regard have entered a final stretch,” a ministry spokesman said. He said New Delhi was more excited than Jakarta to sign the agreement. “The Indian side expressed readiness to sign the recruitment agreement but no date has yet been fixed,” he said. The ministry also said it has already finalized the drafting of an agreement for the recruitment of housemaids from Indonesia and that the two sides have agreed on a contract format that would protect the rights of both the employee and the employer. “We are still waiting for Jakarta to fix a date for the signing of the agreement,” the spokesman said. The Philippines is the only southeast Asian country that has already signed an agreement with the Labor Ministry to organize the recruitment of housemaids. According to the agreement, the housemaids who are to come to the Kingdom from the Philippines should be trained in a recognized training center and should be medically checked to make sure that they are from any contagious diseases. The agreement makes imperative on the employer to sign a contract clearly stipulating the monthly salary and the annual vacation of the housemaid and that she will be properly accommodated and not be asked to work for more than the agreed hours. The employer should also open a bank account for his housemaid or driver to deposit their salaries.
