RIYADH, July 8: Saudi Arabia needs to improve labour law protections and end its “sponsorship” system to prevent domestic workers being treated like slaves, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

A report titled “’As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses against Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia” said efforts to reform laws to improve the conditions of poor workers from Asian and African countries had fallen far short of protecting them.

“In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they’re treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between,” senior researcher Nisha Varia said in a statement.

“The Saudi government should extend labour law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don’t have to gamble with their lives.”

Around a third of Saudi Arabia’s population of 25 million people are expatriates, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Over one million work as maids.

The Labour Ministry has acknowledged that there are problems with workers’ rights, but the government often also says that Islamic law ensures protection for both Muslims and non-Muslims and reminds foreigners that they are guests in the country.

Minister Ghazi Algosaibi wants to replace many of the foreign workers with Saudis, including Saudi women who he wants to work as maids. But he has encountered opposition from business and religious interests.

A spokesman for the official Human Rights Commission was not immediately available for comment.

The HRW report attacked the “sponsorship” system by which foreigners in Saudi Arabia obtain a visa through their employer, who usually retains their passports.

This restricts the worker’s freedom to change jobs, leave the country or seek redress for abuse.

Some elements in government, including Algosaibi, the Human Rights Commission and members of the Shura Council, an unelected parliamentary body that advises the government on legislation, have raised the possibility of reforming the system.

The report cited the case of Nour Miyati, an Indonesian maid who lost her fingers and toes as a result of starvation and beatings by an employer who was exonerated by a court.

—Reuters