Cambodian maids made to suffer by recruiters: HRW

Cambodian maids in babysitting class at orientation in Kuala Lumpur.

The Straits Times
Published on Nov 7, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The failure of the Cambodian and Malaysian governments to regulate recruiters and employers exposed Cambodian migrant domestic workers to a range of abuses, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) survey report.

The report stated that tens of thousands of Cambodian women and young girls migrating here had little protection against forced confinement in training centres, heavy debt burdens, and exploitative working conditions. It was released in Phnom Penh last week.

In it, HRW urged Cambodia and Malaysia to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention on domestic work, which obligates governments to ensure decent working conditions, impose a minimum age requirement for domestic work, and protect domestic workers from violence and exploitative recruitment practices.

Since 2008, between 40,000 and 50,000 Cambodian women and girls had arrived in Malaysia to be domestic workers.