KUWAIT: Head of domestic help offices union Khaled Al-Dakhnan warned against licensed offices that are leased to employees there who allegedly encourage domestic helpers to escape from their sponsors to work by the hour, which is more profitable for the helpers and office, but is illegal, he explained. The only person affected by helper's escape is the sponsor, he said, expressing regret that the penalty against those harboring absconders, which can act as a deterrent to avoid repeated escapes, is not enforced.
Dakhnan, in statements published by Al-Rai yesterday, said the sponsor is harmed financially and morally, as following a long wait that may reach five months to hire the helper, she can escape after a week. If she is arrested two years later, she will be fingerprinted and deported without punishing the person who harbored her. He said, besides the official offices that are sublet, there are unofficial offices who carry out the same activity that harms Kuwait's international reputation, adding that such activities must be confronted.