A coalition of migrant rights NGOs in Bangladesh, including former maids who were abused, called on the Bangladeshi government to protect its female domestic workers inside Saudi Arabia.

The calls for protection come as the Saudi authorities approved measures to criminalise sexual harassment earlier this week. 

Scores of Bangladeshi women continue to return home daily from Saudi Arabia after facing physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their Saudi employers.

Members of the coalition include the BRAC migration programme, which helps abused migrant workers, and BOMSA, which provides training to women planning to work overseas. 

Local migrant rights group estimate that at least 2,000 women have come back to Bangladesh in the last five months after citing claims of abuse.

Many returned home after escaping to Bangladeshi government shelters in Riyadh, and detention centres across Saudi Arabia.

Some had reportedly waited years, while the vast majority waited months for repatriation back to Bangladesh, according to NGOs.

International pressure groups should be vocal in holding Saudi Arabia accountable and bring to justice for their action

- Bangladeshi Civil Society for Migration 

A Bengali maid in hospital after her employer threw her down three flights of stairs (MEE/Supplied)

 The statement, released by the Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration, described instances where Bangladeshi maids were "being tortured, sexually and physically abused, even raped by their employers".

"International pressure groups should be vocal in holding Saudi Arabia accountable and bring to justice for their action, protect human rights, and prevent abuse," the group said during a press conference in Dhaka.

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