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| Winds of change across the desert In this three-part series, Feizal Samath provides an overview of migrant workers in the Gulf; their travails and the welcome situation where governments are showing more concern, the media is becoming more forthright and migrant worker support groups are springing up Dubai, UAE - Thousands of migrant workers from South Asia, East Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Republics pour into the Gulf every year seeking a share of the wealth that this oil-rich region has to offer. Working on jobs ranging from struggling domestics and construction workers, to more comfortable positions as doctors, bankers or corporate whiz kids driving the hottest Mercedes Benz or Jaguar, all these migrants have one thing in common - earn as much money as possible, save and return home with a pot of cash sufficient for the rest of their lives. Yet for many - mainly semi-skilled and unskilled workers - it's a hard life often accompanied by delayed wages, few holidays, long working hours and poor accommodation. In the case of the domestic worker, it’s worse - beatings, harassment and sometimes rape. A
silver lining There is a growing number of middle class migrants, particularly non-working spouses involved in church groups or connected to migrant worker groups, helping migrants in distress. Bahrain in particular, has seen a few groups spring up and one organisation the Migrant Workers' Protection Group (MWPG) has, in fact, being recognised by the government. Its volunteers have a good working relationship with the Immigration authorities, who sometimes have "bent" the rules to help migrants in distress and ensure their safe repatriation. On the other hand, migrant workers must share the blame for their own plight. Many arrive without a clue about the country; don't speak Arabic or English (the main languages understood here); have little knowledge about working conditions or have never worked before. This results in conflict between the employer (sponsor) and the employee particularly. A year ago, I visited Jordan and the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) as part of a study on garment workers from Sri Lanka working in the Gulf and the working conditions at their factories. Social
unrest If that was a startling discovery bound to spark off long-term social unrest and repercussions on families of migrant workers, I was even more amazed to find this time - and a year later while criss-crossing the Gulf and visiting Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE (Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi) -- that affairs between women and men from different South Asian countries are commonplace in the region. Children born out of wedlock and often without proper identity is also an issue. While at the Sri Lankan embassy in Kuwait, I sat in front of an officer who was attending to a Sri Lankan woman with a six-month-old infant who wanted some documentation done so that she would acquire an Indian passport since her "husband" is an Indian. Whether she had a family back home, husband and children, I was unable to clarify. What is certain however, is that despite all the difficulties, migrant workers would continue to pour into the Gulf at least in the next decade, particularly in Dubai which is in the middle of an economic boom with a string of new hotels, apartment blocks, new construction, increased investment and facilities for affluent tourists. In most countries I visited, embassy officials and social workers said the only way to minimise the sufferings of domestic and some construction workers was to restrict the flow from those countries. Some of the more significant findings on this trip is that while laws are available for the protection of migrant workers, enforcement is difficult like in the UAE for example where there is a federal law and separate laws in each of the seven cities (Dubai, Sharjah, etc) making it a complicated bunch of laws for enforcement purposes. Prostitution and trafficking is the rise. A serious issue since migrant workers are themselves responsible for trapping their colleagues in this quagmire. Many former housemaids have been hired by their "masters" to run recruitment agencies and sit in employment offices as managers. This I discovered in Kuwait and Bahrain.
FORCED INTO PROSTITUTION The new recruit was older and an experienced hand who took an immediate dislike to BL because she was a hardworking woman. There were constant arguments between the two Sri Lankans and with that the attitude of the employer and the family also changed. They became hostile towards her. "The other woman poisoned their mind," BL said, weeping as she told me of her plight when I met her at a temporary shelter in Kuwait. BL said her salary - inside her handbag - had also been robbed by the employer. The other woman offered BL a job as a maid at her daughter's house. The older woman's daughter, a former housemaid, was married to a Syrian and they lived in Kuwait. Rather than continue to face harassment, BL accepted the new job which included looking after the couple's daughter. But the Sri Lankan woman also started beating her and finding fault with her work. After a few days, she was taken to another house - only to realise that it was a brothel. For two days, she was raped and abused by at least 10 men, mostly other South Asians. "Some of them were however kind and didn't abuse me," she said. When BL threatened to jump from the 4th floor of the building, the Sri Lankan woman quickly forced her into a car and dropped her at the shelter in late April this year. "I am desperate and worried about my kids. I don't want to go back," she said with eyes that reflect the sorrow and shame that she is undergoing. (The victim's name has been withheld at her request) |
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