Mathloom suggested that I should start a thread about this. Thank you for the suggestion Mathloom. Racism and abuse seem to be a widespread problem in Arabia. Here are some facts: ----------------------------- http://www.arabianbusiness.com/330-sri-lankan-maids-died-in-mideast-in-2009-27264.html 330 Sri Lankan maids died in Mideast in 2009 The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) recorded 330 deaths of Sri Lankan maids in the Middle East in 2009. The figure was revealed at the same time as the bureau called for a full inquiry into the death of a 26-year-old maid at the hands of her Saudi sponsor, in the latest abuse case to be reported in the kingdom. The full facts of the case are not yet known, but a source told Arab News the maid's body was covered in burns and that her sponsor was in custody. The woman had previously written to her parents complaining of abuse, the paper said. Of the 330 deaths the majority are not considered to be murder, the paper reported. However, abuse of domestic helpers, including beatings and denial of pay, is widespread across the Middle East. In September last year, Indonesia indefinitely suspended the traffic of domestic helpers to Kuwait due to concern over widespread abuse and exploitation by their employers. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh told the paper the country’s mission in Saudi Arabia receives about 10 runaway maids a day. ----------------- http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/tortured-indonesian-maid-has-head-surgery-2010-11-24-1.320714 Tortured Indonesian maid has head surgery Indonesian diplomat says no decision to stop sending maids to Saudi Doctors performed a surgery on the head of an Indonesian housemaid who was tortured with a hot iron by her female employer in Saudi Arabia last week, the Saudi online Arabic language daily reported on Wednesday. Sumiati Salan Mustapa, 23, will also undergo several plastic surgeries after she is moved out of intensive care unit at the hospital in the central town of Madina. “She underwent a surgery on her scalp on Sunday and she will undergo several plastic operations later,” the paper quoted hospital sources as saying. Kabar quoted a diplomatic source at the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh as denying reports that his government had halted the dispatch of national housemaids to Saudi Arabia following the incident. “We have not taken such a decision……but there is a proposal by my government to ensure the mobile phone number of any employer of an Indonesian housemaid is listed in the job contract and conveyed to the competent authorities in Jakarta,” he said. “This condition should be enforced before the maid departs to the Kingdom.” On Monday, newspapers quoted the maid as saying her employer, a widow, told her she wanted to cure her from a mental illness when she used a hot iron on her, causing severe injuries to her head and body. Doctors said the maid is suffering from burns on her body, cuts in her scalp and upper lip, a fractured pelvis and many wounds. According to the papers, the 53-year-old widow confessed to the crime after her son told police during interrogation that his mother tortured the maid. The unnamed widow has remained in detention pending trial and a local human rights group has said it would demand severe punishment of the employer.
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/ann...d-revised-sponsorship-laws-reduce-maid-abuse/ NOVEMBER 24TH, 2010 5:20 Would revised sponsorship laws reduce maid abuse? Tortured with a hot iron, cut with scissors, hammered with hot nails, burned with cigarettes – you’d be forgiven for thinking I was writing about war crimes, but the sad reality is that these are things being done every day to housemaids working in this part of the world. Last August, we all read with horror about the Saudi housewife who beat up her maid, then kicked her out onto the street to die. Likewise, the case of the Kuwaiti housewife whose jail sentence for “intentionally killing” her maid by beating her up, shoving her into a bathtub and leaving her to die was shockingly reduced from 15 years to just seven years. I could go on: These cases are 10 a penny in the region. In September, when Indonesia banned its nationals from taking jobs as “domestic helpers” in Kuwait because of the high incidence of abuse, a ministry spokesman said there were 500 women sheltering at the embassy in Kuwait after complaining of physical abuse and non-payment of salaries. A report out last year said 10 Filipinas a day were fleeing their sponsors in Kuwait – the chances are that the reality’s a lot higher than that (and what of those who never make it to the embassy?). And while it’s easy for us Westerners living in the UAE to say that it doesn’t happen here – that Kuwait and Saudi are different places – the sad fact is that it does. Just last year, 7 Days newspaper highlighted the case of Nuan, a 25-year-old Filipina who had been chronically abused by her Lebanese employer, who cut her hair, beat her up, broke her ribs, burnt her feet with an iron and denied her food for three days, before she escaped through an unlocked door. But, while physical abuse may not be the norm in the UAE, abuse on a much smaller scale is rife. Indignities and mistreatments – inflicted by every nationality of employer – occur on a daily basis: The withholding of passports; the non-payment of salary; verbal abuse; bullying; bad working and living conditions; no time off; not being allowed outside the house; surviving on scraps. I chat to housemaids when I take my children to the park. While many have good employers and enjoy perks like iPhones, satellite TV, laptops and even cars, you’d be surprised how many Westerners ban their housemaids from running air-conditioning in their rooms, even in the height of summer when temperatures reach 48˚C; even more surprised how many lock them out of their houses on Fridays, so they don’t “waste electricity.” (You know, turning on lights and stuff – who wants to pay for that?) I’ve written previously about the sponsorship system that’s currently in place in the UAE, Saudi and, until early next year, Kuwait. It requires all foreign workers to be “sponsored” by their employer, who provides their residence visa and is, effectively, responsible for the employee during their stay in the UAE. It also prevents an unhappy – or abused – employee from leaving her job without written permission from her sponsor. Under this system, housemaids “disappear” into their employers’ houses where, like children and dogs, they are entirely at the mercy of their employer’s whims. And, while the blame does not lie entirely with the sponsorship system, the utter dependency of the maid on her employer doesn’t foster a healthy working relationship: It breeds a feeling of “ownership” that leads to the abuses we read about in the papers. Respected Emirati journalist, Sultan Al Qassemi called last month for the UAE’s sponsorship system to be revised. In his words, “if the federal government doesn’t end it, then international labour laws will probably do so.” For the sake of the housemaids, I say: Hear, hear. ----------------------- http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-...m-is-on-the-wrong-side-of-history?pageCount=1 The sponsorship system is on the wrong side of history Last Updated: Oct 17, 2010 A few years ago, I met up with an Emirati friend whom I hadn't seen since my high-school days. We exchanged the usual greetings and asked one another where our careers had lead us. My friend pulled out and unfolded his colourful business card, which included at least two dozen logos of businesses on the front and back that he was the "owner' of. I was barely able to make out his name on the card. Strangely, all the businesses were named after British towns: Bristol mobiles, Manchester carwash, Oxford cafeteria - the list went on. At first, I was quite impressed. I had only started two businesses by then, a small photography studio and a brokerage firm that took me close to two years to set up. How did he manage to accomplish such an extraordinary feat? He later told me that he "discovered a system" in which all he had to do was offer sponsorship services to expats wanting to reside in the UAE. UAE law obliges expatriates who care to reside and do business in the country to either do so through a partnership with a UAE national in which the expat can own up to 49 per cent, or through a sponsorship system that allows the expat to own the entire business, though not on paper, provided they pay a fee to a UAE national. This fee can range from as low as a thousand dirhams a year and go up to several hundred thousand, depending on the size of the business. This sponsorship system is on the wrong side of history. If the federal government doesn't end it, then international labour laws will probably do so. Bahrain has taken the brave step last year and removed this disagreeable system completely. Even bureaucracy-prone Kuwait recently announced that on the 20th anniversary of their liberation from Saddam's occupation next February, they too will liberate the foreign workers from an outdated 19th century bondage system. And yet the UAE, traditionally the pioneering Arab Gulf state, has only come out in support of it through official statements. Often the "special circumstances" of the UAE are evoked, since the population of nationals is somewhere below 20 per cent of total residents. This makes it even more necessary to reform expatriate labour regulations that are frankly full of loopholes as they stand today. What is interesting is that the local governments have recognised the drawbacks of the sponsorship system as early at the 1970s, when Dubai founded the hugely successful Jebel Ali Free Zone. Today, there are dozens of free zones in the UAE under various names that allow foreign businessmen to set up companies, provided they don't operate within the UAE non-freezone districts. Although businesses have found solutions and loopholes to bypass the outdated sponsorship system individually, collectively they are unable to take the giant step and reform the system. I therefore suggest that the UAE government takes the initiative and establishes an Emirates National Residency Authority to handle all forms of sponsorship. This government body can establish a standardised fee structure for expats who want to start a business in the UAE. The fees can be put into a fund that assists needy Emirati families. This authority can also be the sole issuer of visas for domestic workers. UAE nationals wishing to employ foreign workers can approach this body and submit the necessary documents to them. The authority can even extend longer-term visas to those investing a substantial amount of money in the country and those who employ a large number of UAE nationals. This will also provide assurances to workers. Local companies will not have to keep the passports of their employees since they will not have reason to do so. Like the Bahrain model, employees wouldn't have the right to switch jobs until they honour the contract time period. The truth is that the existing sponsorship system in the UAE breeds complacency and suffocates innovation among nationals who find it an easy way to make income. It also is a barrier towards the free movement of labour within the UAE, which is a requirement for any competitive, meritocratic society, as it allows market forces to determine the value of one's skills. Finally, the existing sponsorship system may be regarded as a reason behind the relatively large population of eight million in the UAE. Like my friend, some nationals will not shy away from sponsoring large numbers of expats regardless of what skills they possess, as long as they are paid an annual fee. Reforming the UAE labour laws, starting with the outdated sponsorship system, is very much a challenging task. It may also be unpopular. But it is necessary and overdue. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a non-resident scholar at the Dubai School of Government
http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104469&d=10&m=12&y=2007 Ranario’s case has drawn widespread attention in the Philippines, where the economy relies heavily on remittances from nearly eight million Filipinos working overseas. Of that eight million, about 73,000 work in Kuwait. Some 60,000 are women employed mainly as maids and earning less than $200 a month on average, labor groups say. Sounds a lot like modern-day slavery to me. I will also look into the living and working conditions of Indian construction workers in Dubai. I have seen some of that with my own eyes, and read articles about it in the past.
This is an older article that deals with how Asian construction workers are treated in Dubai. http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/...n_workers_behind_dubai_construction_boom.html Low-paid Asian workers behind Dubai construction boom Submitted by kashif on Tue, 05/02/2006 - 03:51. Muslim World News Low-paid Asian workers behind Dubai construction boom Dubai, May 2 (DPA) Forests of glass-tinted tower buildings mushroom out of the desert in Dubai, whose colossal wealth is fuelling one of the world's largest construction booms. But the low-paid Asian workers suffer behind the abundance. In order to shape the city's ambitious economic vision, armies of Asian construction workers live and work in conditions that have been criticised by international human rights organisations as being tantamount to slavery. Most unskilled workers in the UAE come from India, Pakistan and China. Stories of poor workers sent back to their home countries without pay after years of toiling in the Gulf have been rife for years here and elsewhere in the region. Labourers who do get paid have long complained about low salaries, mistreatment and poor living conditions. But for the past year such grievances have turned into strikes, some of them violent. More than 2,000 construction workers from the Al Ahmadiyah Contracting and Trade Company here went on a rampage last week, smashing company equipment, buses and machinery. They wanted better wages, better living conditions and the right to cook their own meals instead of receiving ready-made meals from caterers which they said were not hygienic. A worker who did not want to be named said authorities took 76 of his co-workers into custody for taking part in the protest. The worker said neither the company nor the authorities have said where the men have been taken, suggesting they could be in jail or might have been deported. A company official told local newspapers that the men had been "incited" to violence and threatened to replace anyone who failed to return to work. The source said most of the workers had returned to work Saturday to their construction site in the luxurious Dubai Marina. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Labour Minister Ali Bin Abdullah Al Kaabi said worker protests have taken a dangerous turn and that the UAE will deport any worker who violates the law. He blamed the unrest on an organised section of workers who were deliberately provoking fellow workers to protest. After years of censorship, local newspapers have become bolder in highlighting the plight of workers. Dubai's Gulf News warned authorities Saturday that workers had legitimate grievances that should not be swept under the carpet. "There are many people - officials and media alike - apparently in denial that the strikes are spontaneous and motivated by a desire to achieve better working conditions and pay," the paper said. Unskilled workers in the UAE, where Dubai is one of the seven sheikhdoms that make up the oil-rich country, receive $109 and $178 a month. Under the law, they should work eight hours a day, with maximum two hours overtime. But many workers complain they are forced to work up to 14 hours daily. A recent report by Human Rights Watch, an independent New York-based watchdog, said that the UAE government should take immediate steps to end the abusive practices that have helped spark recent unrest by migrant workers in Dubai. The report followed violent demonstrations last month at the construction site of Burj Dubai, which will be the world's tallest building when completed in 2008. Construction on the landmark project was interrupted after some 2,500 Asian workers smashed cars and offices, causing damage of nearly one million dollars. Labourers working on a Dubai Airport expansion project also stopped work following the rampage. "One of the world's largest construction booms is feeding off of workers in Dubai, but they're treated not as human beings," said the Human Rights Watch report. They are denied rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining. Migrant workers comprise nearly 90 percent of the workforce in the private sector in the UAE. The UAE said a new labour law and other measures were improving the lot of immigrant workers, but newspapers are filled every day with reports about the plight of workers, some of whom resort to suicide to escape lives of misery and debt. Human Rights Watch, quoting local media, said that as many as 880 deaths occurred at construction sites in 2004. Al Kaabi said authorities were in the process of drafting a law that would allow labourers to form trade unions and pursue collective bargaining, both of which are currently illegal for construction workers. In an effort to improve the living conditions of the hundreds of thousands of workers' housed in squalid labour camps across the UAE, the government said it aims to build modern residential cities. Earlier this week, one project was launched in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, to provide accommodation, healthcare facilities, shopping amenities, smart card security, waste disposal, pest control and 24-hour visa facilities to firms based in the Abu Dhabi Industrial Zone. This "is our first project, we want to improve the lives of all workers in the UAE and so we shall be building similar cities across the Emirates", said Al Kaabi.
Great thread, this is an obviously terrible situation. I know that it will be sorted out in the UAE shortly, but I am growing impatient. More importantly, there have been many initiatives to act beyond the law and improve the conditions for the "house maids" on a household level. This means that, even though there is no wage or working hours protection, you do this on your own at home. What's been excellent for me is that I convinced my extended family to start writing up better contracts, dramatically reduce working hours, provide training (usually language/computer) and most importantly support their families who are back home with things like furniture, computers, clothes, school supplies, etc. Trying to make this relationship one where they are entitled to all the same rights and benefits as everyone else. There is no point waiting for something that may take years, so it's good to encourage people to act now. I hope that if you are close to this kind of situation, you would do the same. There is one question I have about this. I was initially under the impression that this is an Arabian thing but what I was surprised to find when I moved back to Dubai is that.... all of the European expatriates are doing the same. I was frankly a bit shocked, because they are not brought up in an environment where this kind of stuff is considered ok and I used to be hopeful that they would be the positive example for long time residents of the region. Unfortunately, it turns out they are becoming even worse while long time residents gravitate away from this stuff. How does one go from being told that this is wrong to employing two of these "house maids" for a family of 3?
I think racism could only apply to Saudi in this case because there are millions of very poor Saudis, but none of them would take this job. There is an inherent mentality of "this job is for people from X countries." Maybe, I don't know.
Bravo Mathloom. I really commend you for that. Thumbs up. I have heard about some European expats hiring very lowly paid maids, which is bad. I have not heard about physical abuse being carried out by them, has it happened? Interesting point, though. I guess people don't want to pay more than "market prices" in a particular market. If all the Arabs pay $ 200 or less, then I figure the Europeans in the same place don't want to pay $ 2,000? In any case, no matter if it's Arabs or Europeans, I think it is wrong, and I think we agree on that.
I have heard a bit about the deplorable treatment of Philippino and Sri Lankan workers in the Middle East but the sad thing is that the plight of Philippino maids and Sri Lankan workers is a problem in much of Asia. There have been cases in Singapore and Hong Kong of them being abused and killed and there is some friction among the ASEAN nations regarding the treatment of some of the poorer nationals by the richer countries. As Mathloom noted its also not unusual to see European and even American expats adopt the same attitudes towards Philippino and Sri Lankan workers while in Asia.
I personally know someone who has a sibling that worked in the UAE. Her sister worked there for 2 years and the family didn't get a word of news from her while she was there. When she finally came back, she only brought home the luggage and clothes she left with and a whole new collection of bruises and scars. Weirdly enough, these stories are more than common and pretty much expected, but foreign maids are still lining up to go work abroad. I guess this just goes to show how desperate some people are in the poor countries. Personally I don't think it's a good idea for these poorer countries to export house maids abroad. It cheapens their country. For example, people in the UAE now thinks Indonesia as a nation of house maids.
The plight of Filippino construction workers in Dubai is a crying shame that has gone on for years. Mathloom, I doubt very much it will be sorted out shortly (or ever).
I don't know much about Singapore but I have never heard of a foreign maid having been killed in Hong Kong. I did read before in the news that babies of the employer in Hong Kong had been 'accidentally' killed by the maid though. I would like to know your source and I am humbly waiting to be enlightened.
That's a dumb thing to say, the problem with that region is that they went from living in mud huts to mansions overnight. As you can imagine there are a lot of social problems that develop due to this. They are startng to learn their lesson with the backlash and negative press they are receiving due to their treatment of labourers. The youth there have not had to learn through adversity and struggle, they were all brought up with money flowing out of their rear ends. Its a very different experience to be brought up in an environment where someone else has done almost everything for you in your entire life. It desensitizes you from the struggles of life and places you in an undeserved position of power.
There aren't that many filipino construction workers. There are way more from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China. They're all in the same situation though, except the Chinese ones. Their rights are very well protected by China. There are a lot of filipino "house maids" but a huge number of filipinos are in the service industry - namely restaurant staff/management, bartenders, retail clerks, bank clerks, etc. IMO the priority in Dubai is: 1) construction workers, 2) house maids, 3) expatriate employees in low-paying jobs. It will never be completely sorted out anywhere. If an American company owns an aggressive sweatshop in Indonesia, who's fault is it? Obviously the American company. So has America really solved the problem or have they just rented land outside the country to do it? A lot of countries claim to have solved this problem, but I fear the reality is that they've just exported or outsourced it to other countries. As for the UAE, they are on the same journey, and they are way behind, but I am quite certain that giant steps will be taken towards being on par with everyone else in the very near future. My only issue is that I don't think it's good enough. I think we need to start eliminating this problem (something like global minimum wage + benefits) instead of just hopping from country to country.
There have been several reports of the maid abuse in Singapore, including killing, here is a link to a study: http://domesticworkerabuse.pbworks.com/w/page/18056687/FrontPage [rquoter]The number of foreign domestic worker abuse in Singapore per year is difficult to obtain since many cases go unreported, and only a few cases are actually tried since insufficient evidence is available to prove the occurrence of abuse. Singaporean police has stated that the number of abuse cases reported has decreased from 157 in 1997 to 59 in 2005. Between 1999 and 2004, 114 Indonesian domestic workers died due to suicide or accident, and there were five incidents where maids were killed by their employers. Causes for these deaths have not been investigated in depth. On the other hand, “the Ministry of Manpower handled 189 cases of unpaid wages to domestic workers in 2002, 214 cases in 2003, and 262 cases in 2004”—another type of abuse.[/rquoter] I am not aware of maids being killed in Hong Kong and rereading my post I mistakenly conflated Hong Kong with Singapore. There have been abuses though of maids in Hong Kong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_domestic_helpers_in_Hong_Kong [rquoter] The HKHRM also reports that helpers had been mistreated by their employers: out of 2,500 interviewed, at least 25% had claimed to have experienced violations of their contract, including being paid under the minimum allowable wage amount, not being allowed their mandatory weekly day of rest, and not being allowed to take their statutory holidays. Also, more than 25% had experienced physical and verbal abuse, including a "significant incidence" of sexual abuses.[/rquoter] Just a note that Hong Kong has better laws regarding the treatment of maids than Singapore. That said the treatment of domestic help in many part so Asia is a big problem here is one example of a horrific story out of Malaysia. http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/06/04/fea06.html
I doubt that especially now that the USA has shown interest to the mistreatment of minority groups in the Arab Peninsula. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UUW9MWLIQYw?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UUW9MWLIQYw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
