Persecute the victims

Today's Arab Times couldn't go past without comment...

Ban on transfer of 'Iqama' for domestics within year

KUWAIT CITY: The Immigration General Department at the Ministry of Interior has instructed domestic servant offices not to deal with those who escaped from their previous sponsors 'as such people will pose problems both to the offices and their employers by their continuous escapes,' reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. Sources say the department discussed problems of this sector of people with Undersecretary at the Interior Ministry Lt General Ahmad Al-Rajeeb and he approved the instructions. Sources indicated that Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passport Affairs Major General Ahmad Al-Nawaf followed up these problems.

According to sources, acting Director of the department Colonel Bader Saleh Al-Hammadi and the Domestic Servants Department will act on the instructions and not transfer the residence permit of domestic servants to other sponsors if they are not reliable. Furthermore, a decision has been issued banning the transfer of residence permits of domestic servants to other sponsors before the completion of one year of stamping the previous permit. Sources say the decision will come into effect from July 1, 2008 and will be applicable on domestics of all nationalities except those from Bangladesh and Nepal.

Can you believe what these guys are doing? Hmmm, I know, let's persecute the victims a little bit more... whilst the criminals (abusive sponsors) continue to get off the hook. What is the Ministry of Interior thinking of? Are maids not human beings also? So if a slave happens to escape from their abusive slave-owner within a year, not only are the labeled a criminal (because they've escaped from their slave-owner), but now the slave traders are being officially stopped from selling them onto a new owner who potentially may treat them as a human being... Incredible, yes. Unexpected, no. And what exactly are the unfortunate maids supposed to do... a) seek shelter in their embassies, exacerbating the problem of the huge numbers of maids already stuck in limbo, or, b) be forced to work illegally, increasing the likelihood of abuse. It's not like they can hop on a plane and go home. So the vicious cycle continues to get worse.