http://theopinionat
January 28, 2010
Small Progress for Rights of Raped & Abused Maids in Middle East
UPDATE to my May 2009 Post.
Some baby steps of progress for women who go to the Middle East - more specifically Lebanon - where courts are trying to help these abused foreign maids recoup wages and improve their living conditions. Unfortunately, most muslim employers pay little heed to the court rulings.
First is my original post on the subject - new article below this:
Original Post:
SLAVERY - RAPE & ABUSE - MODERN DAY REALITIES FOR MIDDLE EAST MAIDS
While browsing the web, yesterday, I viewed the Arab Times online site and came across several news articles about the rape and abuse of maids in Kuwait. I was surprised at the cluster of cases so I searched the web for more information and was nearly knocked off my chair when I realized the enormous extent of the huge numbers of foreign maids suffering abuse at the hands of their Middle East "sponsors". To use the term "maid" is a misnomer - these women (and boys) are nothing more than modern day SLAVES. Slaves to be abused, raped, tortured, maimed, and killed.
Many of these maids come into the Middle East (particularly Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon) from Indonesia, the Phillipines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia - smaller numbers come from India and Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia has the largest number of these imported domestics estimated at 200,000 in 2004. These maids are seen as inferiors to their Middle Eastern masters and many countries do not even recognize them as being covered by labor laws - including minimum wage:
"The plight of domestic workers in Lebanon rose to the spotlight during the summer of 2006, when Israel launched a thirty-four-
The vast majority of these women are seeking an opportunity to earn money and send remittances back to their families -
".......Phillipines
Some of these woman do quickly realize the danger and manage to escape in a few days. But, many of the remaining "servants" are left in a living nightmare.
Here are some of the sickening stories of abuse, etc that I came across with a quick net search:
Saudi employer accused of Ramadan abuse on Indonesian maid - burned her with hot iron and lye, forced to eat feces, smashed her teeth and jammed broken teeth down her throat
Widespread gang rape of slave boys by Arab masters
Saudi man/sponsor beat maid - whipped her with an electric wire, burned her genitals & broke her front teeth --- and never paid her
Man fractures maid's spine
Saudi couple beat Indonesian maid for one month - maid's hands and feet are amputated due to gangrene
15 "youths" try to gang rape maid
Saudi man beats 2 Indonesian maids to death puts 2 others in Intensive Care
Filipino woman hired as beautician jumps from window after being beaten by female employer and told she must now be a maid
Indian maids in Kuwait - beaten and tortured by employers then tossed onto road
Bahrain - Ethiopian maid jumps from second floor window to escape abuse
Maid arrested for bewitching her employer
Saudi maid kept as slave for 18 yrs - never paid and starved
Saudi maid kept as slave and never paid salary for 10yrs
Bahrain Maid sets trap for "sex pests"
Lebanon - maids abandoned and dumped at hospitals if sick
Domestic workers are dying (suicide, murder)in Lebanon at a rate of more than one per week
Is it any wonder many of these maids choose to run away? -
"In what can be termed a modern-day slave trade, Sri Lankan women arrive in Lebanon only to find themselves abused, imprisoned, raped, hungry, defenseless and alone. Siriani P., 27, came to Beirut in a desperate attempt to save her family from a life of poverty. Just ten months later, however, she grabbed the first opportunity to run away from her employers. LINK
Unfortunately, more often than not, this often makes these women more vulnerable to predators and they soon find their hoped for emancipation leads them directly into prostitution.
It is interesting that instead of seeing the hundreds of women/maids who flee their sponsor's home as a reason to investigate and reflect upon the domestics plight and their widespread abuse - this "maid flight" is seen as an irritation and enormous inconvenience for their muslim employers:
"Families in Jeddah and Riyadh live in constant fear of maids running away. Maids are sometimes like a rope that we place around our necks with them in control." LINK
More from Saudi Arabia:
"About 20,000 runaway housemaids from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka have escaped from their employers for alleged abuse and maltreatment.
But the real story is not the above quote - but the POLICE spokesman who proceeds into a major WHINE complaining the abused, runaway maids cost their employers and the Kingdom money.
The shame of modern day slavery is not exclusive to the muslim countries as it appears that muslims are bringing their maid slavery behaviors into "multicultural" Western countries - a few examples:
Irvine CA Couple -Abdelnasser Eid Youssef Ibrahim and Amal Ahmed Ewis-abd Motelib -found guilty of child slavery
Long Island NY - Millionaires arrested after half naked Indonesian maid escapes mansion
Germany refuses to help slaves of Persian Gulf sheiks
Colorado USA -Saudi man "sex slave" trial begins
Brussel's officials raid hotel and remove 17 girls who were enslaved by Arab Royal family
So what is the solution to such a far reaching travesty of humanity?
Stopping women from going to the Middle East to be maids?
Ethiopia bans citizens from working in "abusive" Lebanon
Abuse causes Sri Lanka to send fewer maid to Arab countries
Concern?
Indonesian Embassy concerned about maid abuse
Writing story books?
Lebanon launches series of books to sensitize population to foreign maids
Ad campaigns?
Saudi Arabia begin "Be nice to your maid" ads
Better yet - How about swift arrest and LONG term jail sentences for those who abuse/rape etc these (or any) women :
Saudi Man gets 27 years for keeping women a "sex slave"
The above USA trial resulted in the conviction of Homaidan al-Turki. This conviction, in turn, brought seething protests from muslims that al-Turki was "framed" and accusations of "Islamophobia" against the United States judiciary/prosecuti
The Saudi press is right.
That is the sad and unfortunate reality for the thousands of women living as maids in the Middle East. Abusive employers receive NO punishment --- whereas a beaten, gangrenous, hospitalized maid --- who reports torture at the hands of her muslim employer - will get the Islamic Court ordered 79 lashes for her complaints along with a continued life of abuse or even death.
------------
January 28, 2010 UPDATE:
Foreign workers deprived of most basic human rights
Lebanon's domestic workers fight back at abuse
Abused, humiliated and deprived of the most basic rights, foreign maids in Lebanon are starting to fight back against their employers in court and, in rare cases, they are winning.
Nanda, from Sri Lanka is one of the few to break the silence.
" For my first two months in Lebanon, my boss gave me one slice of bread a day to eat because she said I was too fat, and sometimes leftovers. I was always hungry "
Nanda, maid from Sri LankaThe 22-year-old arrived in Beirut in 2009 to work as a housekeeper, hoping to help support her eight-year-old daughter and soldier husband back home with her meager monthly salary of $180.
Instead she found herself trapped in an abusive household with no way out.
Nanda's employer confiscated her passport and forced her to work seven days a week, although her contract stipulated eight-hour workdays and a recent decree adopted by the Lebanese government that calls for domestic workers to be given one day off a week.
"I worked from 5:30 in the morning until midnight, non-stop and without pay," she recalled. "And what's worse is I was never allowed to call my family."
Nanda was particularly shocked when her employer's six- and 12-year old children took to beating her when she did not cater to their whims.
"I did not understand Arabic and now I know I was often being treated as a 'sharmouta',
"For my first two months in Lebanon, my boss gave me one slice of bread a day to eat because she said I was too fat, and sometimes leftovers. I was always hungry," she told AFP, sitting in a shelter at Caritas Lebanon, a charity group that offers refuge to victims of domestic abuse.
Lawsuits
" We hope that justice will find her "
Dima Haddad, a social worker But today, Nanda has joined a growing number of foreign workers who are filing lawsuits against their employers in a bid to improve their lot.
"We hope that justice will find her," said Dima Haddad, a social worker at Caritas which is giving Nanda legal assistance.
Haddad said she especially hopes Nanda will repeat the success of 29-year-old Filipina Jonaline Malibagu, whose employer was sentenced in December to 15 days in prison by a Lebanese court for abuse and ordered to pay $7,200 dollars in damages.
"Another worker who had not received her salary for years also managed to win compensation in court in 2009," Haddad said.
Many of the estimated 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Lebanon hail from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.
The Philippines, Ethiopia and Madagascar now ban their citizens from travelling to Lebanon due to the tiny Mediterranean country's poor labor rights record.
Failing to improve human rights record
" But many workers still do not dare complain because of fear, or because they have no papers "
Nadim Houry, HRW senior researcher in BeirutHuman Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday that Middle Eastern governments were failing to improve their human rights records, including for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.
The HRW World Report 2010 highlighted the poor treatment of workers in Lebanon and Jordan, where they face "exploitation and abuse by employers, including excessive work hours, non-payment of wages and restrictions on their liberty."
But there are signs, albeit small, that the Lebanese state and society are waking up to the problem.
In January 2005, Lebanon's immigration authorities agreed to grant Caritas the right to house abused workers and provide them with medical and legal counsel.
And last year the government issued a decree that requires employers to abide by a set of rules including paying workers their salary in full at the end of each month and giving them one day off a week.
But advocacy groups say few employers respect these conditions.
"These rules stipulate one day off a week, but many employers still refuse to allow their housekeepers to leave the house," Haddad said.
"The issue is definitely becoming more visible," said Nadim Houry, HRW senior researcher in Beirut. "But many workers still do not dare complain because of fear, or because they have no papers."
Houry said widespread abuse, and sometimes rape, has caused an alarming number of suicides.
HRW estimates that one domestic worker commits suicide in Lebanon every week on average.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Milis Wanita Muslimah
Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wanita_muslimah
Situs Web: http://www.wanita-muslimah.com
ARSIP DISKUSI : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/messages
Kirim Posting mailto:wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com
Berhenti mailto:wanita-muslimah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Milis Keluarga Sejahtera mailto:keluarga-sejahtera@yahoogroups.com
Milis Anak Muda Islam mailto:majelismuda@yahoogroups.com
Milis ini tidak menerima attachment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment