Modern day slavery Published Date: May 28, 2007 By Fouad Al-Obaid
In an era where slavery is supposed to have long been forgone as an acceptable practice, I am shocked at the fact that today in Kuwait, despite humanitarian practices and international laws, we are still confronted with this issue (forced labor and a modern form of slavery).
What many people here consider as domestic servants; drivers, maids, cooks, as well as other employees of the sort, end up being subjects to harsh living conditions and a meager pay, certainly not enough for the work they put in.
The fact is there are no laws to set a minimum wage nor one to deal with minimum working standards: standards that would precise the working condition, the hours, the pay, the rests, the holidays and the obligations of the employer.
With the latter being quasi non-existent, I sometimes wonder why other people have a hard time understanding the causes that lead many domestics to commit various vices, most of the time they are not out of pleasure, rather they are merely the result of the living conditions and treatment that the domestics are subject to.
Stories of maids taking out their anger on their "masters" weakest link -- their children -- are not unheard of for the single reason that the "masters" treat them as slaves and expect them to say thank you!
What is troubling is that in most of these cases, the domestic are always believed to be mad or happen to be suffering from psychological disorders and only commit such crimes out of madness! Yet I for one beg to question, what is it that pushed such domestics to commit such crimes?
My personal hypothesis on the matter is that if such domestics are at the receiving end of perhaps daily insults, of degradations of all sorts, of deprivations, of punishments, and of long working days with little breaks, then perhaps if the latter happens to be the case I understand that the end result of such treatment can only be a rage of outburst on the part of the domestic that would want to avenge the feeling of injustice that such a person has underwent.
I guess that it is perfectly natural to lose reason if one ends up being put under stress for a prolonged period of time. I certainly know that I would not tolerate such treatment without up one day ending going mad myself!
What many deplorably fail to understand is that we are all human beings. Albeit our skin color, race, and ethnicities differ, we are all fundamentally the same. We all have hopes, dreams and ambitions. Do people seriously think that people actually enjoy cleaning up after someone else's mess? Are people naïve or are they simply racist and believe in race superiority, or perhaps that due to our current wealth, we are above the domestics?
Have we forgotten that not so long ago, we were so dependent of the Asia Sub-continent? Have we forgotten that we used the Indian rupee for currency? Worse, do many of my fellow citizens who claim to be pious and devout Muslims forget that in the Quran, God made it clear that there is no difference between races, no difference between blacks, whites, brown and other?
It really saddens me to know that such action is slowly but surely degrading our image abroad. In the past, such treatment by some foreign diplomats landed them in major trouble yet their immunity from prosecution enabled them to avoid being sent to prison.
With time, such an issue will certainly end up being picked up by mainstream global media and in the long run, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that fellow nationals would be reclaimed by foreign courts in connection with human trafficking, forced work and even slavery charges. After all, Slavery happens to be one of seven crimes common to all civilized nations.
I hope that in the very near future, our dear parliamentarians who claim to be devout Muslims and who want to make the Sharia the prime source of legislation to maybe look into the matter. For it doesn't sound too Islamic. It clearly goes against all human laws and certainly against the law of God.
The "kafeel system" (a system whereby a sponsor needs to be the guarantor of the foreign worker) along with the retention of their passport by the sponsor in question, who in some instances use their documents to bare them from free movement in clear violation of numerous international treaties and charters that Kuwait is a signatory to, are simply wrong.
In a nutshell, the current system ensures that foreigners in our beloved country remain exploited without any rights to do anything about it. They end up being caught in a system where they end up having no legal rights.
The few foreigners that dare go to a police station to complain end up being abused by the police officers. At times, they even in some cases end up being beaten by the same individuals (police officers) who are supposed to uphold the laws of the land and to cater to those that are victims of crimes. In no case are they to be brutal to them and to treat them as sub-humans.
Had I not myself been the witness of such disregard to mainly Asian foreigners by law enforcers I would have not believed it, however it saddens me to admit to such a thing in a country that I believe has laws and a constitution. Furthermore, I encourage all those that might think that I am exaggerating to take the time to go and see for themselves what goes on in police stations.
Ending with a final note, I for one believe in karma; what goes around comes around. Those that abuse people will themselves one day be the victims of their crimes, if not on earth, perhaps in the thereafter. Justice and equalities are two factors necessary for civilizations to develop, people lose hope in either or, we will end up with a chaotic society where people will take it upon themselves to restore perceived injustices.
I hope that law and justice prevails, and those that dare traffic in human beings end up receiving exemplary sentences from international human rights courts. It is a shame that we, in the 21st century, still end up being confronted with demons of the past. Slavery is under no circumstance an acceptable trade. I would like to finish with this remark, what if the person being tampered, enslaved, and abused was you? Would you not want people to speak out and help you? Email me at fouad@kuwaittimes.net
