Housemaids detained at social welfare centers, whose cases and claims against their employers are not resolved within 25 days, would be deported at the expense of the Saudi government, according to a welfare officer of an Asian embassy. He praised the Ministry of Interior for this humanitarian gesture. Housemaids, who have spent 25 days at social welfare centers, are sent to the deportation offices for the immediate processing of their papers, he said. The government initiated this move, considering the fact that social care centers were always crowded, he said. At the Dammam social welfare center, for example, there are always over 200 detained housemaids awaiting deportation. Housemaids who are not fetched by their employers or recruitment agencies after their arrival in the Kingdom are also sent to social welfare centers. In recent months the number of housemaids running away from their employers or seeking help and protection of the police has been increasing. Around 20,000 housemaids arrive in the Kingdom every month on employment visas, according the Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM). Saudi Arabia currently recruits housemaids from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia and Eriteria. The Kingdom wants to expand the recruitment of housemaids from various countries including Vietnam and Nepal. Around 60 percent of the housemaids currently recruited in the Kingdom are from Indonesia. The National Commission for Recruitment (NCR) at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce is also planning to recruit Ethiopian housemaids on a monthly salary of SR800. Meanwhile, the Expatriate Monitoring Department (EMD) in the province of Makkah deported last week 33,000 expatriates for breach of residency and labor laws.
