OHRC disputes HRW report on domestic workers

The report has some methodological flaws: the sample of Tanzanian women interviewed constitutes less than 0.03% of the total Tanzanian female workers in Oman, while the report said 87 female workers were interviewed, but only 50 were domestic workers in three Gulf countries, and the share of Oman is only 38 domestic workers.

This indicates the report is based on information provided by 38 female workers out of a total of 13,655 Tanzanian female workers employed until October 2017.

Second, not all the female workers interviewed were abused or ill-treated.

The organisation didn’t explicitly state this, but “gave a general figure”.The report presented the female workers as victims, but omitted to investigate whether those workers themselves committed offences that violated the terms of their contracts or committed individual irresponsible acts.

The organisation could have communicated with the authorities in the Sultanate or through OHRC to inquire about the cases in question.

Fourteen days before publication of the report, the organisation sent to the authorities in the Sultanate some general questions related to the laws in Oman, but not specifically related to the Tanzanian domestic workers interviewed. It approached OHRC on October 23 only to assist HRW in ascertaining the receipt of such inquiries by the concerned authorities.

The commission assured these inquiries had not been received by the relevant authority, which is the Ministry of Manpower, because the mailing addresses used by the organisation were incorrect.

Therefore, the organization was informed by the commission, and the commission further requested delaying the publication of the report due to time constraints, but the organisation insisted on publishing the report on time.

The question raised here is: If the organisation gave itself a full year to prepare the report and conduct interviews with the Tanzanian female workers (October 2016 till its publication in November 2017), why did it refuse to give concerned party sufficient time to respond to the report?

Domestic female workers’ issues dealt with by the Commission:

On issues relating to domestic female workers, the Commission during 2016 and 2017, has only dealt with two cases. The first case was for a domestic female worker who had fled from the employer’ household and wished to return to her country. It was revealed that the employer had agreed for her to leave Oman, and had booked her a ticket, but she did not want to wait at her employer’s home until her scheduled flight, and so she left the house. After coordination with the competent authorities, she was kept in a safe place until the date of her travel, and she was paid in full by the employer.

In 2017, the Commission received a call from a domestic worker who said that she had been beaten by the employer. The Commission contacted the police who summoned the employer, but was found that he had not beaten her, but directed her not to spray water on the electricity panel, and forcefully pulled the water hose from her to avoid any risk. There were no signs of beating shown on the worker’s body. The case ended with the employer’s undertaking to stop repeating verbal reprimand to the worker.

Oman Human Rights Commission appreciates the efforts of regional and international organizations to protect and promote human rights. The Commission will spare no effort to advance recommendations and proposals that would contribute to the protection of the rights of domestic workers in particular, and that of Omani and non-Omani workers in general. For this purpose, the Commission hopes that non-United Nations organizations such as Human Rights Watch take into account the following aspects:

- Adhering to the scientific methodology when conducting research, surveys and publishing reports, so that these efforts do not lose credibility and make it difficult for the official and national institutions such as the Oman Human Rights Commissions to take into consideration the results reached.

- Observe the procedures stipulated for the conduction of surveys and research projects, as renowned research institutions all over the world overtly indicate their intention when entering foreign countries and strive to create partnerships with and seek assistance from the existing local research or concerned institutions. These partnerships help to understand the culture, customs and traditions of these societies and avoid biases. For example, the Commission studied the issue of determining the working time of domestic female workers with ambassadors of European and Asian States in 2016. When the topic was discussed in terms of cultural and social aspects, ambassadors developed a better understanding about the issue. The OHRC welcomes discussion of any new idea and suggestion that helps promote and protect human rights.

- Observe the role and mandates of national human rights institutions. These institutions are considered as strategic partner for the protection and promotion of human rights, especially that the work of these institutions is in accordance with the Paris Principles, and are accredited by the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Oman Human Rights Commission has already asked Human Rights Watch to refer any received violations in order to deal with them, but this has never happened as yet.

- Observe the right of the concerned party to enjoy ample time to respond to issues raised in any given report before publication. Objectivity and credibility can better be maintained if the research body gave the concerned parties sufficient time and opportunity to provide the necessary information. It was hoped that Human Rights Watch would give ample time to the concerned body in Oman to respond to the report and that would discuss the authenticity of the information received from the Tanzanian domestic female workers with the competent authorities in Oman prior to publication.