UAE Takes More Action to Protect Domestic Helps
The public can register complaints with the department by calling 8005111 Amer or 047074878 or 047074889
In an apparent effort to protect domestic helps from abusive employers, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) has recently introduced a Domestic Help Department (DHD) to follow up on and address all issues about domestic helps in Dubai, protect their rights and maintain ties with them, their sponsors and the recruitment agencies, according to GDRFA Director Gen., Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri.
Colonel Khalaf Al Ghaith, Assistant to the Director-General for the Illegals and Foreigners Follow-Up Section, said that the directorate will open a studies and analysis section, as well as an awareness section, stated a news report in today’s Khaleej Times.
Statistics show that transactions related to disputes between the sponsor and the sponsored being finalised at the Domestic Help Department stood at 988 last year, including 245 reports of absconding, 54 complaints against sponsors for withholding the passports and 338 on applications submitted for visa cancellation, according to the news report.
The offices for the Domestic Help Department will be established soon, Col. Al Ghaith noted. Capt. Hussein Darwish Abbas, Director of the department, for his part, said the department in Dubai is the first of its kind in the UAE. The public can register complaints with the department by calling 8005111 Amer or 04-7074878 or 04-7074889.
Meantime, the report also stated that GDRFA is planning to provide a makeshift residence for female domestic helps until they reach their sponsors’ homes. It has also planned to set up a shelter for housemaids in distress.
The directorate will also build a training centre to familiarise female domestic helps on their rights and duties, a move seen as a step to address and stamp out any problem which might appear on the future.