Abuse and Exploitation of Domestic Maids in Singapore - Article Example

 In severe cases, some maids have been sexually exploited, tortured and even killed. Human rights watch, the government and other concerned organization have of late noted the human rights abuse that domestic maids have been exposed to in Singapore, with a large number of maids being immigrants the existing laws and regulation has done little to protect their rights as human beings and foreign employees (Tsai, 2008).

So far there are a number of policies that are being undertaken to rectify the gaps that have existed in the upholding of the rights of housemaids. A national campaign by UNIFEM Singapore, Transient Workers count Too, Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics is being carried out to push for a day off for the maids. Although the Singapore government as a member of the ASEAN body claims to be protecting the rights of human beings, the Manpower ministry which is part of the government has consistently refused to implement the law to protect immigrant domestic workers.

Another initiative that has been taken is clearly stated in the constitution, Article 12 (1) states that “Unequal Protection of domestic workers under Singapore law constitutes impermissible disparate impact discrimination on the basis of sex and national origin” Under this law, maids have to some extent been protected although the law has not been followed to the latter.

To rectify the gap and weakness in the manner in which maids are treated in Singapore, the Human Rights Watch have asked the government to ensure that immigrant domestic maids right are protected through the amendment of the Employment Act and workman’s compensation Act, reviewing the national minimum wage from time to time, push the council to carry out an investigation and propose and implement policies that call for equal pay among domestic maids, creating a standard contract for immigrant domestic workers in accordance to the International labor standards and employment Act of Singapore  (International Labour Office,2010).

The relevant organization should create and improve policies and mechanisms that will prevent, monitor and timely respond to abuse extended to the domestic maids, to be more precise immigrant maids. This can be achieved through the inspection of working places and recruiting agencies, putting a help desk in place to address any distress calls from the maids, carrying out exit interviews to establish the state of affairs and creating more transparent and up to standard employment agencies.

The government and other relevant bodies should enforce policies that prevent the exploitation of the maids and abusive practices. For example, abolishment of the S$,5000 paid as a security bond, having the prospective employers pay for their maid's transport, campaigning for housemaids to live independently, ensuring that employees who confine their maid are prosecuted and making the Employment Agencies Act to deal with gaps on the agency fees.

In conclusion, it is vital to understand that maids too are human beings who should equally e respected just as one would like his/her daughter to be respected. The government should be at the forefront of ensuring that domestic maids are protected from exploitive and corrupt employers and agencies as stated in the constitution (Tsai, 2008).