Absconding maids debate reveals the issue’s complexity

Readers assess the debate about maids. Other topics: military service, flight delay, consumer debt and UAE football.

Military service recruits like these young Emirati men will benefit from the experience, a reader says. Photo: Ravindranath K / The National

There are lots of reasons why some maids flee from their employers (More needs to be done to protect domestic workers, Ramadan Council hears, July 14).

Absconding is not a solution but is used as a last resort when domestic workers claim they are being abused.

More thought needs to be put into analysing where the problems lie, to formulate solutions and then to strictly implement them. This discussion in the Ramadan Council is a good start.

It’s good to have a forum for this that will involve the government agencies concerned, recruitment agencies, prospective employers and employees and the domestic workers themselves in which everything can be put in the open.

Ako Batibot, Dubai

Some of these labour agencies are making fortunes from this, and the victims can also be the employer as well as the employee.

Agencies take up to Dh15,000 from an employer and sometimes the maid will abscond almost immediately or become pregnant or ill. These agencies should make things clear about the work duties that will be expected before the worker leaves their home town.

Fatimazahra Assif, Dubai

This initiative should not be restricted just to medical tests done in their home country. Domestic workers should also get records showing they do not have criminal records and they should also undergo psychological and mental tests before working in the UAE.

Some of these maids are psychologically unstable or mentally ill. There should also be a policy where the agency has to pay back the sponsor’s fee if the maid absconds.

Michelle Salem, Dubai

Pros and cons of military service

Your report about young Emiratis having to register for military service (Emirati recruits report for registration for national military service, July 14) is perhaps very good: they will be taught discipline and similarly valuable lessons from which they can benefit for the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, it is very sad that the UAE, a peaceful and very intelligent country, needs an expanded army.

It means times are changing and also the UAE is not free from threats from outside its borders.

Brigitte Von Bulow, Abu Dhabi

Flight-delay case is ‘a bit much’

With regard to your story, Abu Dhabi court orders airline to pay Dh30,000 after flight delay (July 13), airlines are supposed to provide compensation when flights are delayed but this traveller's original claim of Dh4 million seems a bit much.

The airline should have been prepared to allow for food and drink for the passengers and, if the delay is longer than a certain amount of time, access to the business lounge or a hotel should be given. It’s all part of the International Air Transport Association code.

Bruce Hinds, Abu Dhabi

Airlines are supposed to advise you of your rights but in many cases they will avoid telling you as a way to avoid paying the compensation for not fulfilling their obligation to get you to your destination in a timely manner.

I think a lot of people don’t realise the compensation they are entitled to, particularly if the flight that is cancelled or delayed is to a destination in Europe, which means the compensation is covered by EU regulations.

Steve Manser, Abu Dhabi

Clear advice would avert bad debts

Making an informed choice about what debt to take on, as Alison Hamilton Thornton wrote in your letters page in response to Steer clear of the debt trap in the UAE (July 12), is a great idea.

I get tired of the usual calls from bank sales staff offering me credit cards and loans, so I started to ask these sales people exactly how these schemes work. In my experience, most of these sales people do not know what kind of financial product they are selling and are not able to answer even the most basic questions about them.

Something really basic, like how much each dirham owed on a credit card will cost over a year, should be explained in simple terms. It might stop people from taking out ridiculous loans to pay for personal consumption.

I am usually not in favour of more regulations, but in this case they are much needed.

Heike Moeckel, Abu Dhabi

No reaction to UAE World Cup goals

As a Colombian, I remember the UAE team because they played against us in 1990 and we won, 2-0 (Wanted: stories of UAE's World Cup moments, July 13).

I know many young Emiratis and once, to get a reaction, I showed them the goals scored that day. To my surprise, they didn’t react – it turned out it was before they had been born.

Marcelino Torrecilla, Abu Dhabi