Layla Quran
Adalah Center for Human Rights Studies
Amman, Jordan
On a recent Friday morning, dozens of Sri Lankan domestic workers gathered around a large table at the Adalah Center for Human Rights in Amman. The workers came with questions.
At the head of the table was a lawyer from the center and a leader from the Sri Lankan domestic workers’ community in Amman who served as a translator. He explained how there are parties in Jordan, ranging from recruitment agencies to employers themselves who either do not know or do not want to share with workers the rights they have in the workplace, and that it was important for workers to understand that they could turn to the Adaleh Center for legal advice. This is the first year the Adaleh Center has hosted these legal trainings for domestic workers, and workers often come in large numbers.
Jordan is in a unique position in the Middle East in that it is the only Arab country to have labor laws that include domestic workers. In 2008, it introduced new regulations concerning the rights of domestic workers and the responsibilities of employers and recruitment agencies. However, a 2011 Human Rights Watch report, “How Jordanian Laws, Officials, Employers, and Recruiters Fail Abused Migrant Domestic Workers” found that, despite these regulations in place, migrant domestic workers still face the same abuse they face in other countries without these laws.
Despite laws on paper, employers and recruitment agencies still take advantage of domestic workers, sometimes because the workers do not know their legal rights or are too afraid to speak out. The onus should also not have to lie solely on workers to stand up for their rights. Employers and agencies should respect their workers and there should be harsher consequences for those who do not. Legal trainings held by the Adaleh Center are important because they give workers another opportunity to learn about what is and is not acceptable for their employer or agency to do. They empower workers to speak out against abusive conditions, and to take the proper steps when their rights are infringed upon.