At least 147 maids have died from workplace accidents or suicides since 1999, mostly by jumping or falling from high-rise residential apartments, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report.

Abuses are inflicted not only by employers but also employment agents who confiscate the maids' passports, threaten them with violence and refuse to extricate them from abusive employers, the report said.

"Women migrant domestic workers in Singapore suffer grave abuses including physical and sexual violence, food deprivation and confinement in the workplace," the organisation said.

Executive director Kenneth Roth said maids are not covered by Singapore's Employment Act and Workmen's Compensation Act which would give them many of the legal protections accorded to other foreign workers.

"We found that there are a series of policies and practices on the part of the Singapore government that make women very vulnerable to abuse with very little access to redress," Roth told a news conference.

Abuses on maids range from physical and sexual abuse, food deprivation and excessive salary deductions that leave them working for months without getting paid.

"Many workers do not have a day off. They are effectively forced to work seven days a week -- week after week. Many also experience restrictions on their movements."

Roth added that all maids "live under the constant threat of repatriation" and are barred from getting pregnant or marrying a Singaporean.

"I was not allowed to go outside... I felt I was in jail," an Indonesian maid told the organisation.

The ministry of manpower said the report was "grossly" exaggerated.

"Foreign domestic workers receive full protection under Singapore laws, including the Employment of Foreign Workers Act," the ministry said in a statement.

It said employers are required to provide adequate rest and meals, and ensure work safety, proper housing and prompt salary payment, and stressed the government does not tolerate any abuse or exploitation.

"On their own accord, foreign domestic workers choose to work in Singapore because of better conditions here compared to their home and other countries," it said.

Human Rights Watch said that while Singapore's laws and regulations offer stronger protection to maids than some of its neighbours, the city-state lags "far behind" regional rival Hong Kong.

Hong Kong "includes domestic workers in its main labour laws, protecting their rights to a weekly rest day, a minimum wage, maternity leave, public holidays and paid annual leave," it said.

The watchdog said the government had taken steps to improve the condition of maids in Singapore by carrying out orientation programmes, prosecuting abusive employers and monitoring employment agencies.

But wages, work hours and salary deductions are left to employers and maid agencies, leaving domestics with little bargaining power, it said.

"In a country well-known for strictly enforcing laws to promote order and efficiency, the failure to provide adequate and equal protection to an entire class of workers is an anomaly," Roth said.

About 150,000 women work as maids in Singapore, most of them from impoverished villages in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

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