Campaign urges Saudis to treat foreign help humanely

The man behind the television announcements and newspaper inserts says that it is time for Saudis to stop ignoring the issue and that their faith should compel them to act.

“We sometimes deal with our servants as if they were not human and have no feelings,” said advertising executive Kaswara al-Khatib, who came up with the idea for the campaign after noticing how badly some Saudis treat domestic workers and foreign labourers in general.

Khatib said the slogan, “Have mercy so that you shall be shown mercy”, is meant to remind Saudis that “good manners are an integral part of being a good Muslim”.

“What I’m trying to point out is that there’s an inherent contradiction in being a devout Muslim, praying five times a day and mistreating your servants,” he said.

Khatib has been hailed as a hero as well as accused of anti-Saudi bias and of tarnishing the country’s image. A Facebook group supporting the campaign has attracted nearly 3,000 members, and several newspapers and television channels have asked to use it since the ads first appeared on the popular Saudi-owned MBC satellite channels and in al-Hayat newspaper last month.

But writer Trad al-Asmari slammed the ‘mercy campaign’ as inaccurate. Problems of mistreatment exist in many countries, Asmari wrote in al-Jazeera newspaper, but the campaign singles out “all Saudis as ugly and merciless.”

In an editorial in al-Watan newspaper, Hassan al-Assiri wrote that “the campaign poses a very important question”. “Is it true that Saudis actually have no mercy? Have studies and polls… proven that the only way to treat the problem is by performing surgery on our consciences?” he asked.

Saudi Arabia has about 8 million foreign labourers, mainly from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent. About a quarter of them are domestic servants. Many households in this country of 28 million have several servants, including drivers for women, who are not allowed behind the wheel in the kingdom.

With advances in press freedoms since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005, newspapers have routinely published articles about domestic servants who have been beaten, raped and sometimes killed. Last year, Saudi police rescued an abused Sri Lankan maid after she contacted a newspaper. She had been confined and had not been paid for seven years.

A Human Rights Watch report in July harshly criticised the mistreatment of domestic workers. The report said the workers often endure “non-payment of salaries, forced confinement, food deprivation, excessive workload, and instances of severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse”.