A day in Al Bayader security centre

Today is Friday, the weekend, the home phone rings...On the other side, an officer of Al Bayader security centre telling us that they have found the Sri Lankan lady who escaped from the house eight months ago, barely completing four months of her two year contract. I hurried to the security centre with all the necessary papers intact. When I arrived, the concerned officer asked me, what I intended to do – do we want her back or to end her contract? I replied I want to meet her to find out the reasons she ran away, and what happened to her during that time – where she worked, where she lived, how she lived. I go in to meet her and after a brief discussion, she says that she wants to work part-time and preferred living with friends. In the office of the officer in charge, which turns into a beehive, I found throughout the days of the week you hear stories and tales stranger than fiction.  A citizen comes in complaining he paid 3,000 dinars and the housekeeper didn’t stay for more than one day. Another one didn’t know that her maid was pregnant until she delivered the baby in the bathroom. A cleric accompanied his maid to the airport who was travelling to her homeland. When he returned to the house, he received a phone call from the airline company, saying she hadn’t boarded plane. Another one complained of her Sri lankan worker fleeing from the airport while her employer waited for her at arrivals…the tales have no end. The matter became worse, as stories began to include theft preceding the escape, often without the owners of the house being able to get back the things stolen from them, as well as the long and arduous litigation operations, which exhaust the citizen and waste time and effort. As for the recruitment offices, some of them become foolish hunters others are in partnership with the workers and help them escape.   But who protects the rights of Jordanians when this happens? A question we glossed over while talking about the right of housekeepers. Who protects Jordanians from fraud, the writer of these words currently has two cases in the courts against the offices of recruitment (to no avail thus far). Is it reasonable that a citizen pays 3,000 or 4,000 dinars for work that does not continue for days, weeks or even a few months at best conditions? And then someone asks you to buy a flight ticket for her to return home, you don’t know her name, and you’ve only know her for a few days or weeks. There is a law to protect her interests and the interest of the recruitment office, but what kind of law is this? We know that some housekeepers are subjected to ill-treatment by their employers. Starting with the lack of work rights and ending with beatings and long working hours filled with arduous work. This behaviour must be eradicated legally. But that should not be a justification for disregarding the rights of Jordanians; housekeeper’s rights must be included in contracts for new recruitment. The Jordanian citizen must be protected and preserved and the Ministry of Labour needs to ensure that fully through the imposition of insurance and fines on recruitment offices (here and in the country of origin).  Compensation for the damage caused by those who flee should be paid. No one knows the number of the women who have escaped and what they were doing, it is thought to be approximately 50,000. There is an army of security men, not only are their pursuit of these women repatriated to their homes or their expulsion, but the hands of these affiliates are tied to the law which does not protect the rights of Jordanian citizens. Will the ministry of work move quickly to answer these questions? The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.