This is a very delicate subject - but of recent days, one that has received much comment.
It concerns the treatment of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia - women who are more often than not from poorer areas within Asia, and have sought employment in another country in the hopes of providing for their families. Unfortunately - not all have found themselves in a safe working environment.
In some cases, these women have been subject to horrific treatment at the hands of their employers - they have suffered physical violence and have been treated as virtual "slaves".
I, personally, have seen only a minute number of such cases reported in the news - and there can be no doubt that many cases of ill-treatment go unreported. However, we must also be aware that these cases do not apply to all employers - these cases reflect a small minority .... unfortunately the actions of a small minority can impact on the general view and overall perception of the majority of good employers.
From The Boston Globe:
"A new report on the abuse of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia cites the case of an Indonesian woman, Nour Miyati, who had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten on a daily basis. Her case, tried in a Riyadh court, was later dropped.
The case, according to the report released yesterday in Jakarta by Human Rights Watch, is hardly unique: the study found that thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia each year face similar abuses, including lashings, unpaid wages, forced labor, and slavery-like conditions.
About 1.5 million domestic workers live in Saudi Arabia, coming primarily from Asian countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Indonesia accounts for by far the most workers, an estimated 600,000 to 900,000.
The report, titled, "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials, and labor recruiters."
From The Manila Times:
"US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released in Indonesia that many Saudis believed they “owned” their foreign domestic workers and treated them like slaves.
“Saudis treat them like chattel, slaves, like cattle. A domestic worker is like a slave, and slaves have no rights,” the report quoted a “senior consular official” with a foreign embassy in the kingdom as saying.
The kingdom’s kafala or sponsorship system gave employers control over the workers’ visas, meaning they could refuse to allow domestic staff to change jobs or leave the country.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nepal accounted for the bulk of the women, thousands of whom sought shelter each year at the Saudi social affairs ministry or at their respective embassies."
From Taipei Times:
"The 133-page report entitled ‘As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia, was compiled after two years of research, the group said.
The work included 42 interviews with domestic workers, officials, and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and the workers’ countries of origin, it said.
Out of 86 domestic workers interviewed, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuse that amounted to forced labor, trafficking or slavery-like conditions.
Few of the abusers were ever brought to justice as migrant women who dared to complain risked counter-charges of adultery, witchcraft or moral degradation, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment and 490 lashes."
From Yahoo News:
"The government has spent years considering labour reform "without taking any action," Varia said.
"It's now time to make these changes, which include covering domestic workers under the 2005 Labor Law and changing the kafala system so that workers' visas are no longer tied to their employers," she said.
"The Saudi government should extend Labor Law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don't have to gamble with their lives."
More than eight million migrants work in Saudi Arabia, including 1.5 million domestic workers, most of whom send money back home to their families."
From The News Tribune:
"Rather than receiving justice, the report said that domestic workers - most of them from Asia - are more likely to face counteraccusations of witchcraft, theft or adultery.
"In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they're treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Suhaila Hammad of Saudi Arabia's National Society for Human Rights dismissed the report as "unfair and one-sided."
"I wish that when rights groups do their reports they would listen to both sides of the story," Hammad told The Associated Press. "We're being unjustly portrayed, and the crimes against us by the workers are never mentioned."
Hammad said crime rates in the kingdom have increased in recent years because of offenses committed by foreign workers. The country is also home to 5.6 million foreign workers employed in sectors such as oil, business and engineering.
"They smuggle drugs, they turn apartments into liquor factories, they practice prostitution, they steal and sometimes they kill," she said.
"It's true that some of the workers suffer, but we also as a society are suffering from them too," she added."
From Middle East Online:
"Some Saudi Arabians are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group said Tuesday.
Haima G., a Filipina domestic worker, said her employer called her into his bedroom one day soon after she had arrived and told her she had been "bought" for 10,000 riyals (2,670 dollars)."
From The Houston Chronicle:
"Human Rights Watch said the report concludes two years of research and is based on 142 interviews with domestic workers, senior government officials and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and labor-sending countries.
While no reliable statistics exist on the exact number of abuse cases, the Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs and the embassies of labor-sending countries receive thousands of complaints from domestic workers against their employers or recruiters each year, the report said.
The most common complaints include excessive workload and unpaid wages, for periods ranging from a few months to 10 years, the report said."
From The Guardian:
"Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia face routine human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, with employers often escaping any punishment, according to a new report.
Abuses include months or years of unpaid wages, forced confinement and physical and sexual violence, while some workers suffer imprisonment or lashings for spurious charges of theft, adultery, or "witchcraft", says Human Rights Watch.
Saudi households employ an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Thousands of complaints of abuse are made every year.
A restrictive sponsorship system ties workers' visas to their employers, which means employers can prevent workers changing jobs or leaving the country. Employers often take away passports and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical and sexual abuse. After interviewing 86 foreign domestic workers, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuses that amounted to forced labour, trafficking, or slavery-like conditions.
Poor investigations and criminal proceedings that often last for years mean that abusive employers are rarely punished. For example, after three years of proceedings, a Riyadh court dropped charges against the employer of Nour Miyati, despite the employer's confession and medical evidence. Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten daily by her employers."
From World News:
" "In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they’re treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Saudi government should extend labor law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don’t have to gamble with their lives."
The Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs, in cooperation with the police operates a shelter in Riyadh to assist domestic workers to claim their wages and return home. However, in many cases shelter staff negotiated unfair wage settlements between employers and workers, often leaving workers empty-handed because they had to forego back pay in exchange for their employer’s permission to leave the country.
In the absence of effective local redress mechanisms, the foreign missions of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal often play a critical role in providing shelter, legal aid, and assistance to those who have wage claims or court cases. The demands placed on these embassies far outweigh their resources, and many domestic workers complain of long waiting periods with little information about their cases and, in the cases of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, overcrowded and unhygienic shelters."
From the International Herald Tribune:
"The report, titled, "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials and labor recruiters.
Varia, who has researched migrant worker rights throughout the world, said she was shocked by conditions in Saudi Arabia.
"We have looked at this issue in many other countries, and it is very common to see labor abuses like unpaid wages. But in Saudi Arabia, what really stood out was a system that allows employers to force workers to stay against their will," she said from Jakarta.
"You had not just one but many cases where women were forced to work for years against their will." She said labor laws, which exclude domestic workers, and a controversial immigration policy that ties a domestic worker's visa to the employer, are the root cause for much of the abuse. The immigration policy, known as Kafala, gives employers the right to deny workers the opportunity to change jobs or even leave the country.
Questionable recruitment techniques by labor agencies in home countries also cripple a worker's ability to save any money. These agencies are deceptive about work conditions and charge excessive fees that cause indebtedness, Varia said.
The problem is compounded by huge commissions that recruiters receive from labor agencies that find domestic workers willing to go to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch spoke to a Sri Lankan official that said labor agencies typically pay between $330 and $430 commission for workers sent to Saudi Arabia, while only $50 to $100 is paid for other Middle Eastern countries."
Hamia's Story - from Global Nation. This is a must read.
Note: Nisha Varia is HRW's senior women's rights researcher.
It concerns the treatment of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia - women who are more often than not from poorer areas within Asia, and have sought employment in another country in the hopes of providing for their families. Unfortunately - not all have found themselves in a safe working environment.
In some cases, these women have been subject to horrific treatment at the hands of their employers - they have suffered physical violence and have been treated as virtual "slaves".
I, personally, have seen only a minute number of such cases reported in the news - and there can be no doubt that many cases of ill-treatment go unreported. However, we must also be aware that these cases do not apply to all employers - these cases reflect a small minority .... unfortunately the actions of a small minority can impact on the general view and overall perception of the majority of good employers.
From The Boston Globe:
"A new report on the abuse of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia cites the case of an Indonesian woman, Nour Miyati, who had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten on a daily basis. Her case, tried in a Riyadh court, was later dropped.
The case, according to the report released yesterday in Jakarta by Human Rights Watch, is hardly unique: the study found that thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia each year face similar abuses, including lashings, unpaid wages, forced labor, and slavery-like conditions.
About 1.5 million domestic workers live in Saudi Arabia, coming primarily from Asian countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Indonesia accounts for by far the most workers, an estimated 600,000 to 900,000.
The report, titled, "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials, and labor recruiters."
From The Manila Times:
"US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released in Indonesia that many Saudis believed they “owned” their foreign domestic workers and treated them like slaves.
“Saudis treat them like chattel, slaves, like cattle. A domestic worker is like a slave, and slaves have no rights,” the report quoted a “senior consular official” with a foreign embassy in the kingdom as saying.
The kingdom’s kafala or sponsorship system gave employers control over the workers’ visas, meaning they could refuse to allow domestic staff to change jobs or leave the country.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nepal accounted for the bulk of the women, thousands of whom sought shelter each year at the Saudi social affairs ministry or at their respective embassies."
From Taipei Times:
"The 133-page report entitled ‘As If I Am Not Human’: Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia, was compiled after two years of research, the group said.
The work included 42 interviews with domestic workers, officials, and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and the workers’ countries of origin, it said.
Out of 86 domestic workers interviewed, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuse that amounted to forced labor, trafficking or slavery-like conditions.
Few of the abusers were ever brought to justice as migrant women who dared to complain risked counter-charges of adultery, witchcraft or moral degradation, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment and 490 lashes."
From Yahoo News:
"The government has spent years considering labour reform "without taking any action," Varia said.
"It's now time to make these changes, which include covering domestic workers under the 2005 Labor Law and changing the kafala system so that workers' visas are no longer tied to their employers," she said.
"The Saudi government should extend Labor Law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don't have to gamble with their lives."
More than eight million migrants work in Saudi Arabia, including 1.5 million domestic workers, most of whom send money back home to their families."
From The News Tribune:
"Rather than receiving justice, the report said that domestic workers - most of them from Asia - are more likely to face counteraccusations of witchcraft, theft or adultery.
"In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they're treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Suhaila Hammad of Saudi Arabia's National Society for Human Rights dismissed the report as "unfair and one-sided."
"I wish that when rights groups do their reports they would listen to both sides of the story," Hammad told The Associated Press. "We're being unjustly portrayed, and the crimes against us by the workers are never mentioned."
Hammad said crime rates in the kingdom have increased in recent years because of offenses committed by foreign workers. The country is also home to 5.6 million foreign workers employed in sectors such as oil, business and engineering.
"They smuggle drugs, they turn apartments into liquor factories, they practice prostitution, they steal and sometimes they kill," she said.
"It's true that some of the workers suffer, but we also as a society are suffering from them too," she added."
From Middle East Online:
"Some Saudi Arabians are abusing female migrant workers to the point of slavery and Riyadh needs to respond with sweeping labour and justice reforms, a major rights group said Tuesday.
Haima G., a Filipina domestic worker, said her employer called her into his bedroom one day soon after she had arrived and told her she had been "bought" for 10,000 riyals (2,670 dollars)."
From The Houston Chronicle:
"Human Rights Watch said the report concludes two years of research and is based on 142 interviews with domestic workers, senior government officials and labor recruiters in Saudi Arabia and labor-sending countries.
While no reliable statistics exist on the exact number of abuse cases, the Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs and the embassies of labor-sending countries receive thousands of complaints from domestic workers against their employers or recruiters each year, the report said.
The most common complaints include excessive workload and unpaid wages, for periods ranging from a few months to 10 years, the report said."
From The Guardian:
"Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia face routine human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, with employers often escaping any punishment, according to a new report.
Abuses include months or years of unpaid wages, forced confinement and physical and sexual violence, while some workers suffer imprisonment or lashings for spurious charges of theft, adultery, or "witchcraft", says Human Rights Watch.
Saudi households employ an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Thousands of complaints of abuse are made every year.
A restrictive sponsorship system ties workers' visas to their employers, which means employers can prevent workers changing jobs or leaving the country. Employers often take away passports and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical and sexual abuse. After interviewing 86 foreign domestic workers, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuses that amounted to forced labour, trafficking, or slavery-like conditions.
Poor investigations and criminal proceedings that often last for years mean that abusive employers are rarely punished. For example, after three years of proceedings, a Riyadh court dropped charges against the employer of Nour Miyati, despite the employer's confession and medical evidence. Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten daily by her employers."
From World News:
" "In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they’re treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between," said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Saudi government should extend labor law protections to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don’t have to gamble with their lives."
The Saudi Ministry of Social Affairs, in cooperation with the police operates a shelter in Riyadh to assist domestic workers to claim their wages and return home. However, in many cases shelter staff negotiated unfair wage settlements between employers and workers, often leaving workers empty-handed because they had to forego back pay in exchange for their employer’s permission to leave the country.
In the absence of effective local redress mechanisms, the foreign missions of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal often play a critical role in providing shelter, legal aid, and assistance to those who have wage claims or court cases. The demands placed on these embassies far outweigh their resources, and many domestic workers complain of long waiting periods with little information about their cases and, in the cases of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, overcrowded and unhygienic shelters."
From the International Herald Tribune:
"The report, titled, "As If I Am Not Human: Abuses Against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia," is based on two years of research inside Saudi Arabia and nearly 150 interviews with migrant workers, government officials and labor recruiters.
Varia, who has researched migrant worker rights throughout the world, said she was shocked by conditions in Saudi Arabia.
"We have looked at this issue in many other countries, and it is very common to see labor abuses like unpaid wages. But in Saudi Arabia, what really stood out was a system that allows employers to force workers to stay against their will," she said from Jakarta.
"You had not just one but many cases where women were forced to work for years against their will." She said labor laws, which exclude domestic workers, and a controversial immigration policy that ties a domestic worker's visa to the employer, are the root cause for much of the abuse. The immigration policy, known as Kafala, gives employers the right to deny workers the opportunity to change jobs or even leave the country.
Questionable recruitment techniques by labor agencies in home countries also cripple a worker's ability to save any money. These agencies are deceptive about work conditions and charge excessive fees that cause indebtedness, Varia said.
The problem is compounded by huge commissions that recruiters receive from labor agencies that find domestic workers willing to go to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch spoke to a Sri Lankan official that said labor agencies typically pay between $330 and $430 commission for workers sent to Saudi Arabia, while only $50 to $100 is paid for other Middle Eastern countries."
Hamia's Story - from Global Nation. This is a must read.
Note: Nisha Varia is HRW's senior women's rights researcher.
No comments:
Post a Comment