Recruitment agencies should offer two years of insurance for housemaids working in Qatar in case they run away from their sponsors, a Qatar Chamber of Commerce official has proposed.

Ali Hamad Afifa, head of the working committee for recruitment agencies under the Chamber, said the requirement would help ease the “financial burden” that sponsors face when their maids abscond.

There is currently no law regulating domestic help in Qatar. Maids are not required to sign contracts with their employers and cannot file complaints against their employers with the Ministry of Labor.

And though they put in the longest hours, housemaids are among the lowest paid workers in Qatar.

Meanwhile, mention of a maids’ bill of rights was raised early last year, but movement on the draft law appears to have stalled. 

Is it any wonder, then, that so many housemaids run away?