HRW: Many Indonesia migrant workers in Saudi Arabia treated cruelly

"Therefore, the Saudi Arabian government should immediately effect reforms in its manpower and immigration sectors, and its criminal courts to protect migrant workers in the country from criminal acts and enslavement," HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said at a press conference.

A 155-page HRW report titled: "As If I Were Not a Human Being: Arbitrary Action Against Household Workers from Asia in Saudi Arabia" said many Saudi Arabian employers who violated human rights did not face proper punishment for their arbitrary action against migrant workers who worked as house maids.

According to the report, many Saudi Arabian employers had committed sexual and physical violence against their house maids, and failed to pay their salaries for months, even years, and sometimes forcefully confined them.

"If the house maids in Saudi Arabia were lucky, they would enjoy good working conditions with good bosses, but otherwise they would be treated like slaves," said Nisha Varia, a senior observer at HPW`s Women Rights Division.

She said ...