Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Reader's views: Gulf maid abuse

from BBC News (UK)

Sarook, a Sri Lanakan in Saudi Arabia: I work as a recruitment agent in Saudi Arabia, finding domestic servants for Saudi nationals. I place mainly Sri Lankans and Indonesians. To be honest, I advise people not to seek employment in Gulf countries - especially women ... One or two house maids report to the office every day complaining about ill treatment. They complain about not being paid, not being allowed to contact their family, not being given proper food, long hours and sexual abuse from their employers. If we discover clients are treating maids badly we blacklist them - and we have blacklisted many.

Dr Sharma, Indian national in Saudi Arabia: I often treat household help brought to the clinic by their sponsors [employers]. They usually start by complaining of routine physical ailments, but after a little gentle questioning, one by one they talk about being abused sexually by the men in the family. Getting beaten and working 18 hours a day is almost routine. I am a Bengali-speaking Indian, so the Bangladeshi maids speak quite personally to me. There is no way we can do anything about it. Saudi Arabia is the most starkly racist place you can have. If an expat is involved in an accident with a Saudi, the Saudi can never be wrong.

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