Agreement with Cambodia won’t solve shortage of domestic helps

RIYADH — The recent signing of an agreement between the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Cambodia for recruiting male and female domestic helps will not solve recruitment problems, according to recruitment offices. In Cambodia, there are no licensed recruitment offices for completing the paperwork for exporting domestic helps. Workers can be sent only when a sufficient number of such offices are opened, which will take time, recruitment office owners stressed. There are also proposals to recruit workers from Thailand, spokesman of Saudi recruitment offices Majed Al-Haggas told Al-Riyadh daily. Al-Haggas said recruitment of workers from Djibouti has not succeeded because there are only two offices for sending workers. The continued closure of recruitment from Indonesia, according to Al-Haggas, is the cause of a series of problems. Most important among them is the high recruitment cost that Saudi families had to bear during recent years and the appearance of a black market for domestic helps. The Kingdom on Thursday signed a contract with Cambodia for recruitment of domestic helps from that country. The contract, signed by Labor Minister Dr. Mufrej Al-Haqbani and his Cambodian counterpart Ith Sam Heng, in Riyadh, aims to recruit trained and skilled domestic workers. This comes within the ministry’s efforts to increase the sources for recruitment of workers and open new channels to meet the increasing demand for experienced hands. Al-Haqbani said the agreement is part of continuous efforts of the Ministry of Labor to boost relations between the Kingdom and manpower exporting countries, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. The articles of the agreement stipulate securing qualified and medically fit workers from Cambodia to the Kingdom. The workers coming to the Kingdom should not have criminal background and should have received training in institutes or centers specializing in domestic work. The workers also ought to have been enlightened on the Kingdom’s customs and traditions.