Maid Abuse in Singapore

This is my human rights project for my MAP class at the Singapore American School. I took all the footage, but the facts and quotes were taken from a report by the Human Rights Watch, the Law Society of Singapore, and the charity organization H.O.M.E. For more information about maid abuse in Singapore, click the link below:

http://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1iu2Ua8oWue9WEVtVP5mv8NbtWZ200yiga2258...

And to learn more about H.O.M.E. and how you can help, click the following link:

http://www.home.org.sg/

*Note: none of the footage used is meant to criticize or hurt anyone or any organization. The video is for educational purposes only.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Maid
• Singapore
• Abuse
• Work
• Maid Agency
• Human Rights

[phat1ful]

STOP sending people to Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and other repressive countries! The P. I. gov should ban it's citizens from going there until things get better.

[DIXIEBOY68]

@gorengyan - well, its not what happen to the singaporean economy without maid, well, actually its what will happen if the maid could not get a job in singapore, go hungry in the philippine ? you guys just give birth with birth control due to religious belief and look what happen? POVERTY! you guys like to talk big , if we have money, we can get maids from any country but when you have no jobs , money, breath polluted air, THINK what will happen! GOOD LUCK, Dont just brag! as you have nothing

[dom10alienforce]

If i had a maid,i would take care of her.

[MrJoshuapg1]

stop sending maids, in singapore thats the cure, no maid-no abuse.....please salary so low and not worth it. I love pinas.....and the people...

[gorengyan]

@gorengyan the problem about banning maids is that it doesn't work because human traffickers will find ways to circumvent the ban. A good model to follow is Hong Kong where the Hong Kong gv't made hiring maids a "priviledge" so that only the ones who can really afford to pay for the services can employ one. The difference is that Hong Kong has an open political structure whereas Singapore is repressive. That makes it quite difficult for activists and NGOs to influence political decisions.

[genewilly]

@gorengyan Agreed, that is why we need not rely on volunteers alone but also engaged all prospective people in various fields like those I mention and pay them for the job. Secondly, that will help bring down the dependency on maids and thus encourage the unemployed to look into this for work. It is a win win situation but we still need to make sure the people doing these jobs are not exploited as we do not have a proper human rights thing.

[genewilly]

These community centres will pay for the people for their service and then have these group care for the aged and young and house duties. Its a market that can help our untapped industry. The problem does not lie in just the domestic workers getting abused, even the locals are treated as bad by their own boss and therefore it has a spill over effect. Singapore does not have a proper human rights thing like in other countries which is why locals or other workers get abused.

[gorengyan]

@genewilly sure , that's a great idea if we have all random volunteers to match the demand of child care. But volunteering on a daily basis is too ideal. Besides, everyone needs to make a living. Going back to the argument, the issue here is Singapore gov't's lack of political will to protect migrant workers(domestic helpers) who are part of the economic wheel. They shoulder the house work so that their employers can be part of the working force. Domestic helpers' protection is a legit argument

[gorengyan]

sure , that's a great idea if we have all random volunteers to match the demand of child care. But volunteering on a daily basis is too ideal. Besides, everyone needs to make a living. Going back to the argument, the issue here is Singapore gov't's lack of political will to protect migrant workers(domestic helpers) who are part of the economic wheel. They shoulder the house work so that their employers can be part of the working force. Domestic helpers' protection is a legit argument.

[genewilly]

@gorengyan There are other ways to do it like the community can setup a group of seniors / volunteers / boys brigade / social service all together like in the old kampung spirit. I believe that will also help the young learn to be more caring and not like now many kids are spoilt with maids, they like to order people around and when they grow up, they think everyone is their maid. At the same time, they do not learn to be bad citizens and would learn to appreciate people more and not slaves.