Modern day slavery in Kuwait

Last week's Kuwait Times had the following interesting article...

US State Department talks about modern day slavery in Kuwait

By Jamie Etheridge

KUWAIT: The US Embassy in Kuwait arranged yesterday a videoconference
discussion with Ambassador James Miller, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of
State and Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Ambassador Miller spoke in-depth about trafficking in persons in Kuwait and the
US State Department's position on enforcement and protection for trafficking
victims. "Trafficking in persons "is a major human rights issue in the 21st
century" Miller argues, labelling it "modern day slavery."
In early June, the United States lowered the ranking for Kuwait - along
with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - to the third tier of
countries failing to protect victims of trafficking and prosecute traffickers.
Yesterday, Kuwait's Speaker of the House said in an interview with BBC that the
US reports about human rights on Kuwait should not be dealt with as
"undisputable or some form of a permit that limits our authority." Throwing a
stone at America's most prominent glass house, Khorafi noted that Washington has
violated human rights by "holding prisoners without trial or legal procedure" at
the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "In Kuwait, our best is always
done to resolve any negativity that takes place (at human rights level),"
Al-Khorafi said. Ambassador Miller acknowledged that slavery remains "a
scourge that extends throughout the world," including the United States. While
he didn't mention the accusations of human rights abuses levelled at the United
States over the Gitmo detentions, he did say that in America, hundreds of women
are trafficked into the country as sex slaves.
Speaking about Kuwait, Miller listed three types of trafficked persons:
domestic servants and housemaids, construction workers and child camel jockeys.
Miller argues that tools to combat slavery include public awareness through
education and media campaigns, labour laws and enforcement of laws to protect
victims and prosecute violators.When asked why Washington had chosen now to
lower Kuwait's rating to the third tier - where it could face sanctions from the
US government if no substantive progress has been made by September - Miller
said that "We don't believe the government of Kuwait is making significant
efforts to combat slavery. Deeds have yet to match words." For the Trafficking
in Humans report, the US State Department gathers information from a variety of
sources including US Embassies abroad, other governments and embassies, press
and media reports, academic papers and staff visits, says Miller. "We are hoping
that in the next several months Kuwait will articulate an approach to change
these laws to give some protection to those who find themselves in slave like
conditions," says Miller.
When challenged on why the US seems to love to rank and rate other
countries on human rights issues and terrorism, Miller admitted that the US
would rank at the "top of tier two" - one rank above Kuwait - when it comes to
trafficking in humans. The US government is now looking for "appreciable
programmes" that demonstrate a Kuwaiti government will to address the problem.
According to unofficial estimates, there are more than 300,000 Asian maids in
Kuwait - about one for every two Kuwaitis. Human Rights Watch, a
non-governmental organisation which monitors human rights abuses around the
globe - argues that Asian maids in Kuwait are routinely subject to physical
abuse, unlawful confinement, passport confiscation, withholding of wages, sexual
abuse, rape and assault.
Ambassador Miller says the US government hopes that by raising awareness,
the Kuwaiti government will focus greater efforts on providing education to
would-be sponsors and potential recruits, shelters for those who have been
abused, public awareness campaigns and improved labour laws...

The problem, which the USA quite rightly is highlighting, is that the Kuwaiti government is not doing anything to resolve the slavery issue. Sure, the USA is no angel in this matter and has its own people trafficking problems.

As I’ve commented in this blog previously, the Kuwaiti Labour Laws have still not been amended. And being a cynic, even if the laws are changed, everyone knows in Kuwait that the rule of law is applied differently depending on your nationality thanks to institutionalised racism, or is amenable to “wasta” (the use of relationships or a network for favours). The judicial system clearly doesn’t work in Kuwait as in other Gulf states. Even in Bahrain which is a little more progressive in these matters, not one national citizen has been prosecuted for abuse or rape of a housemaid.

Then you have the issue of the home countries of those that are exploited – the maids, labourers, prostitutes, et al - who themselves are quite happy to sweep things under the carpet, and not make too big a deal about the exploitation. As long as you have third world embassies whose main function is to pick up the pieces of individuals and arrange for them to get home, rather than confront the problem head on and withdraw their nationals from the market altogether (as some countries have done / are threatening to do), then the problem will continue. These supplier countries can do something, but often won’t as their economies do very well thank you from expat remittances. Then there’s the comfortable life a diplomatic post entails (particularly coming from a third world country)… why rock the boat (or ‘gravy train’ to use another metaphor)! And these countries aren’t immune to the greasing of palms… all unsubstantiated uncorroborated thinking on my part of course.

The USA State Department didn’t mention the fourth group of trafficked persons in Kuwait – prostitutes – so I will. If you read the constant stories in newspapers about prostitution dens being broken up by police in the country, you’ll get an inkling of how this is another huge area for exploitation (as it is everywhere in the world). Sadly, it appears that a number of the prostitutes are runaway maids hoping to earn a few bucks. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!