Solita, a Filipina housemaid, is a victim of rape. A mother of three, the youngest is not more than a year old, she looks frail and in deep trauma. She escaped from a local employment agency here, where she was kept for months with other women domestic workers, after she was raped by the owner of the employment agency who recruited her in Manila. She sought the help of the Philippine Embassy, and is now being sheltered in a safe house of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Eastern Province. “I just want to go home and forget the whole thing – that I was a victim of rape,” she said. “I will keep to myself the bad experience I had; I will forever keep silent and let God's judgment be delivered upon the person who molested me,” she told Saudi Gazette. Solita is one of the many rape victims who prefer to keep silent. “There are many victims of rape and abuse who choose to stay silent to protect their reputation and just forget that dark episode of their life,” an Asian embassy official said. “Many of the housemaids who run away from their employers are victims of rape and other abuses and maltreatment. Almost everyday, there are domestic workers of various nationalities running away from their employment; many are victim of sexual abuse,” he said. “This is an indication that the crime of rape is on the rise,” he added. Solita said that in the recruitment agency where she was kept while waiting to be assigned to a new employer, she was told of many Filipina housemaids who were raped by the recruitment agency owner. “I was a victim myself, and like many of them I prefer to remain silent for fear of family and social backlash,” she said. “I do not know how to face my husband, my children and family when I return home, keeping to myself that I was a victim of rape. I guess I will keep silent forever,” she said. Solita is being supported by the Philippine Embassy. She has already appeared and narrated her case before the Prosecution Office in Eastern Province, according to Labor Attache' David Des T. Dicang. “We are making continuous follow-up of the case to see to it that the case is forwarded to the court at the earliest,” Dicang said. He said Philippine Ambassador Antonio Villamor wanted to pursue the case and seek redress. Despite strong advocacy by the United Nations and human rights organizations against the elimination of violence, including rape, against women, women workers, such as housemaids, are subjected to perennial abuse even in countries that are signatories to the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
