Indonesian maids held captive by Employment Agency

It may be hard to believe that this still happens in today's age, but this is the tip of the iceberg I'm afraid. This article was in today's Arab Times...

One dead as hiring office holds maids captive in flat

KUWAIT CITY : Attorney Dr Esmat Al-Kharbotli Wednesday filed 10 complaints with the Maidan Hawalli Police Station on behalf of 10 Indonesian housemaids who were ‘detained’ for eight months inside an apartment owned by the maids recruiting office. The maids were neither given work nor paid during this period.
In her complaints, attorney Kharbotli said the housemaids arrived in Kuwait in 2007. Some of them worked in Kuwaiti homes for some time and because they were not paid their salaries they escaped from their employers and took shelter in their country’s embassy.
This led to the closure of files for some time of some offices that recruited housemaids. To reopen their files, the offices dispatched some of their employees to receive the housemaids from the embassy on the pretext they wanted to complete paper work to send them to Indonesia.
However, it was revealed later that the housemaids were housed in an apartment and kept behind locked doors for eight months. During that period, one of them died and no one knows where her remains have been taken.
According to the housemaids who have been freed, they saw their colleague die but did not know how to help her. When she died, one of the housemaids went into hysteria due to shock. “She is still suffering from shock,” the housemaids told the Arab Times.

Has this recruiting agency been closed down? Who owns this recruiting agency? Will their name be published? Will they be prosecuted? I think we all know the answers to these questions...

For those unaware of how the recruiting agencies operate... when you want to employ a housemaid, you go along to one of these agencies and specify your requirements - nationality, religion, age, experience, etc. You can either import your maid, in which case you go through a catalogue and pick one out to be imported, or you can take home one that is already in stock. The models in stock are usually returns from dissatisfied buyers, and are kept cooped up in an agencies stockroom/prison until they are released to go home with a new employer. They are taken on a trial basis from the Agency and can be returned to the Agency if the customer is not satisfied.

In some cases, as would appear in the article above, the housemaids in stock may have runaway from their employers to seek shelter in their Embassy. Sometimes they will be coerced by their Embassy to return to their former Agency and seek work again. The Agency may 'discipline' the housemaid for having runaway from their employer instead of bearing the suffering of mental or physical abuse, lack of pay, etc, and beatings by the Agency staff are not uncommon. (In fact, the training provided by Agencies to their new imports includes gems like "What happens if madam beats you... work harder!). Agencies don't want dissatisfied customers returning their used goods! No doubt there is some incentive for Embassies to push out some of the 2-300 runaways they are sheltering also.... particularly when VIP visitors are in town. Some may be happy to go back to the Agency for the chance that they might get a good employer next time around; others are not given a choice, and are effectively transferred from the relative shelter of the Embassy to the Agency prison, rather than the deportation process which also includes a spell in prison. Bear in mind here, that in most cases, we are talking about the victims of abuse, exploitation, etc. being imprisoned, not the perpetuators of crime and exploitation.

So that's an overview of the process, and gives a little context to the news article above.

Anyone know more about the 1300 missing bangladeshi cleaners?

This is a follow-up article Rev. Andy posted back on the 3rd Nov. 2007. I posted a couple of articles back then, here and here. I presume these guys were rounded up and deported without a bean, of if they did get anything, on the proviso that they keep their mouths shut and not complain any further. Anyone hear/see what actually happened?

Where have they gone?

By Rev Andy Thompson St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ahmadi BANGLADESHI labourers who were the focus on an Arab Times campaign over the summer have disappeared. Mr Stan Gustas, a friend of the labourers reports receiving several distressed phone calls from workers two nights ago. Another friend of the labourers also received a call and heard the sound of shouting and things being broken and smashed. Arab Times readers responded generously over the summer in providing food and water. They gave in response because the labourers had not been paid for ten months by an unscrupulous company who had brought them in under false pretences. Due to non-payment and appalling living circumstances, over a thousand men had no water and food. Arab Times readers provided two industrial size water coolers which were bolted to the wall and this was deeply appreciated by the workers. Today those same water coolers had been ripped off the walls and have disappeared. The few meager possessions that were owned by the workers were thrown into the gutter and are piled high in the street preventing access into the building. All the windows have been smashed and what was once the abode to over two hundred men lies eerily silent. Neighbours report the violence two nights ago and allegedly police were involved. Many of the Bangladeshi men were waiting to go home. Sheikha Bibi Al-Nasser Al-Sabah said she was appalled and is distressed that certain companies are still allowed to traffic in human labour. This is a human rights issue and she is deeply concerned that once again Kuwait’s honourable reputation is being sullied by a few corrupt men. She called for the company to be investigated. Sheikha Bibi was in the process of helping the labourers to return home with air tickets and compensation. Other organisations were also involved in seeking help to return the distressed workers. Mr Abdulmuhsin Taqi Muzaffar from the Kuwait Society for Human Rights expressed his deep concern about this turn of events. He and his society were working hard on behalf of the labourers and recently had meetings with the Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs and the Bangladeshi embassy. He also called for an investigation to find out why these workers have been so badly treated. Friends are now seeking to locate the missing men. The Bangladeshi embassy employed a lawyer several months ago to seek the workers rights in court. It is not known however when the case will be completed. They are aware that a new company wanted to relocate the workers to a site in Mahboula, but admitted that several of the workers did not want to move or work for the new company. Many Arab Times readers were unstinting in their sympathy and support for the labourers. “We were very close to seeing a happy ending to their plight with the imminent opportunity for them to go home. I hope that whoever is holding these men will allow them to go home to their families soon,” they added. andythompson1968@hotmail.com

Modern day slavemasters

From Arab Times, 16 Aug. 2008. A bit old this opinion piece by Ali Al-Baghli, but the issues it raises are current...

A cook, a ‘slave’ … burnt hopes

By Ali Ahmad Al-Baghli Former Oil Minister THE following is a true story which happened in Kuwait some days ago. This is a good reply to those who defend Kuwait against accusations of inhuman treatment meted out to domestic maids and human trafficking. This happened in a society which we like to say is generous and has good faith. An Indian cook works for a Kuwaiti family, which is known for organizing Hajj caravans every year. The cook managed to bring his son, who looks like his father and has a nice smile on his face all the time, to work as a domestic helper for another Kuwaiti family. But within a few days the happy face of the son turned gloomy. He told his father that his master beats him regularly and gives instructions in Arabic, which he doesn’t understand. As he could not follow his master’s instructions correctly, the master thought the domestic helper was stubborn and making mistakes deliberately. This miscommunication happens all the time in the country. As this inhuman treatment went on, the father advised his son to go to the recruiting office to find another sponsor. When he came to know of this the master became hysterical and went to the office to claim the “slave” he had bought. He took the helper to his home, tied him up, locked him in a room, and branded the poor boy with a heated iron, like shepherds brand their camels. Such incidents used to happen in ancient times when masters branded their slaves to prove their ownership. The poor boy managed to escape from this prison and went to his father and asked him to find a lawyer to file a case against the slavemaster of the 21st century. At this point the Kuwait Human Rights Society got into the act and filed a case against the sponsor. However, soon they found out that the sponsor had already filed a case against the domestic claiming he was absconding. Maybe the master was safe in the knowledge that the unfair laws of Kuwait implemented by the book by the Interior Ministry would stand on his side. In this scenario we want to pose a direct question to Acting Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, who is concerned with Kuwait’s poor track record on human rights: what do you expect this boy to do after being beaten and burned by his sponsor? How much more suffering and torture should he put up with to ensure no case is filed against him? Where are the shelter homes which you promised international organizations to build soon, for such cases? Such questions and information on similar cases are not grabbing the attention of any government departments or religious activists, who work day and night urging people to abide by high moral principles. Maybe this case doesn’t belong to their high ethics because according to their traditions and culture slaves are to be treated with a stick. e-mail: albaghlilaw@hotmail.com By Ali Ahmad Al-Baghli Former Oil Minister

Too much scope for abuse from Employers

Arab Time, 30 June 2008... and the Filipino's generally get it better than the Indonesians, Ethiopians, Nepalis...

Hands off

By Rev Andy Thompson St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ahmadi YOU see them everywhere! I cannot image life in the Gulf without them. Hardworking, robust, they are a blessing to Kuwaitis and expatriates alike. Constantly serving with a smile and tragically among the most exploited of the workers. They are the Overseas Filipino Workers. Some of the text messages I have received on my phone this week have included the following. “Pls help us I’m afraid this week all of us will be taken by the police . . . pls have pity on us, as we are asking for justice.” “Our feelings of joy have vanished and been replaced by fear. We are told by Phil embsy that 8 of us have cases filed against us by our employers.” These messages have been sent by detained domestic workers. Some 95 Filipina women have been detained lately mainly because their employers had no need for them and some of them face trumped up charges. I spent Friday evening at a police station listening to yet another story of the one of the prisoners there. He was seeking to transfer his job to another employer and his boss told him to come in and sign the release form that would allow him to start work with his new company. Unknown to him his boss had spitefully arranged for the police to come and arrest him on the charge of absconding. Happily his story had a good ending and he was subsequently released.. What is going on here? Clearly the Philipines Embassy must be deluged for requests for help. The sheer numbers of OFWs in Kuwait must mean inevitably that some will get into trouble with the law, but so many of those whom I have met are victims of petty and arrogant employers. I want to say to these employers “Hands off these Filipinos - where is your mercy and compassion?” I love the Filipinos sense of humour, their love for music and see at times an almost childlike zest for life. These qualities are seen by most of us in their work places. The Filipinos provide a substantial workforce not just of domestic help, but also nurses, medical technicians, engineers, construction workers and service and retail staff. The Kuwaiti authorities are in a bind. They have good laws which uphold the rights of most workers, but quite simply there are not enough pro bono lawyers, workplace inspectors, and shelter for distressed workers. The automatic response is just to put workers in jail. Like anywhere else in the world, the legal system takes time to process individuals and this is tough on someone who has family depending on them for income. It is even worse when they are in jail because their employer has a personal gripe against them. Individual employers have far too much scope for abuse. The only solution for this abuse is to take the power out of their hands. The sooner the private sponsorship system is replaced by a government scheme, the better. Hopefully it will mean less injustice being perpetrated. In the meantime, thank God for the OFWs they are a blessing to all of us in Kuwait. andythompson1968@hotmail.com

Human trafficking in Kuwait... an example

Arab Times, 28 Feb. 2009...

Salvation for ‘Lily’?

HUMAN trafficking was one of the issues looked at by a landmark conference organised recently by the IOM and the British Embassy. What made this conference special was the way in which IOM was able to get the Embassy Labour Attaches, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs officials, and NGOs all in the same place to discuss the management of migrant labour. Intense workshops were organised throughout the week resulting in a list of recommendations at the end. This included a statement that the “Kuwait government has reconfirmed its constitutional commitment to the protection of all citizens, including temporary foreign workers. They are committed to protecting the rights of labourers and victims of human trafficking”. Important words but implementing these recommendations will be the real challenge. This week sees Lily (not her real name), a Filipina who was rescued from a human trafficker by the police, start her second month in custody. The police issued a press statement at the time of her rescue explaining her predicament, and how they went in and got her out by sending an undercover agent to pretend to buy her from her pimp. What the press did not report is what happened to Lily after her salvation by the police. Lily ran away from her employer after facing false allegations, only to end up being raped and forced into a prostitution ring. She was drugged in order to make her more compliant for customers. After contacting her family, she was “rescued” by the police. She tells of how she was held against her will in a room with many other women by the human traffickers. The police after arresting the pimps also held Lily in a police cell for two weeks. We successfully negotiated with her employer to drop her absconding charge only to be stunned to learn that the police had charged Lily with adultery and had now sent her to prison. Visits to prison revealed that Lily had signed a document in Arabic at the request of the police which turned out to be a statement that she had slept with the pimp. Lily does not read Arabic and her spoken Arabic is limited. She is traumatised, utterly bewildered and suicidal. She only came to Kuwait in order to earn money to help her four children have a better life. We have been advised that her case will not be heard for at least three months and quite possibly up to a year before she comes before a judge. In the meantime she remains under lock and key, unable to provide for her family and devastated by the crimes visited on her body and mind. The greater tragedy is that she is not alone. Many women charged with adultery or prostitution are in fact victims of crimes perpetrated by men and the law in this case seems to fail in drawing a distinction between the victim of a crime and the criminal. In seeking to help Lily we found contradictory reports in the court system and a complete fog as to when and who can help her. Pro bono lawyers are low key and her embassy is overstretched — she is one of many hundreds of Filipinos who have fallen into the cracks. Even more frustrating is that there is little that can be done to help women like Lily. There are few women who can provide counselling for rape victims. The police handling (all male officers) of Lily was unprofessional, unsympathetic and compounded her trauma. The absence of a network and a process which addresses these issues is shocking. The IOM conference is at least a step in the right direction. For Lily though — it is too late. The IOM and the British Embassy are to be deeply congratulated in their efforts to address the issues that workers face in Kuwait. The story of Lily highlights the horrific nature of human trafficking and provides one example of what an ordinary worker has endured in Kuwait. I hope the conference will provide a momentum in making Kuwait a fairer place to live in where justice and righteousness will flow like rivers. By Rev Andy Thompson St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ahmadi andythompson1968@hotmail.com

Can you help?

Rev Andy is doing his bit to raise awareness of the human rights abuses in Kuwait in his opinion column published in the Arab Times. Here is the one from 21 March 2009. I'll see how many others are still online and post these up for posterity also.

Can you help?

“CAN we help?” is a question a lot of people ask when they hear news of another unfortunate soul who has slipped between the cracks of society. Here is a story of what happened when some friends of mine did try to help. They reached out to a Nepali lady who was injured after jumping out of a third floor window in order to escape her abusive employers. This maid had surgery on her pelvis and spine, was five months pregnant and to add insult to injury was serving a sentence in deportation jail on an absconding charge. (Why don’t they arrest the abusive employers?) The authorities finally agreed to let my friends buy an airline ticket to allow her to go home. But when it came to processing the paperwork, the officials claimed to have lost the Nepali girl’s passport (it was found in the same drawer where it was originally deposited). Finally on the day that the ticket would have expired, out of desperation, the friends turned up the jail ready to take her themselves to the airport. The deportation staff reluctantly escorted the Nepali maid to the airport, and made sure that their annoyance was expressed by denying the poor girl use of a wheel chair and insisted that she walked the whole way through the airport and immigration in order to punish her. The abuse of this girl continued right up to the moment she boarded the plane. She was the lucky one! She got out. Others receiving help are still stuck at the deportation centre. Tickets have been bought to allow them to go home, but they have expired because someone, somewhere will not process their paperwork. Hundreds of dinars from those who wish to help have been wasted. Prisoners are losing their minds because they have been stranded in the deportation centre for months. The tragedy is that often their tickets have been bought and paid for by people who have shown acts of charity – but bureaucratic apathy has reduced these efforts of kindness to nought. The tickets expire and dreams of going home are reduced to despair. Please note, we are not talking about convicted criminals here. We are talking about people who chose to leave their employers under dire circumstances and who want to go home. Can you help? Of course you can. But you need to be committed and determined to see it through. Helping people in Kuwait is not for the faint hearted, but there will be reward and God sees what we do. “The King will reply ‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me”. (Matthew 25:40) andythompson1968@hotmail.com By Rev Andy Thompson St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ahmadi

Press Freedom and the 'Red Line'

Couldn't agree more with Shamael's article in todays Kuwait Times...

Press Freedom and the 'Red Line'

Published Date: February 12, 2009
By Shamael Al-Sharikh, Staff columnist

The political arena in Kuwait is currently playing host to a heated debate between MPs and some local newspapers. The dispute is over a most revealing characteristic of Kuwaiti life; freedom of the press.

Some newspapers have given their writers and columnists carte blanche to criticize whoever they desire in the most verbally brutal way possible short of actual slander. The targets of these condemnations have mostly been members of Parliament, much to the parliamentarians' disdain. MPs are quite upset at this behavior and have started a political campaign against some newspapers and accused them of being either propaganda tools for wealthy business families or "paid for" from the government's coffers.

MPs have continuously used the term "red line" to illustrate their belief that their job performance should be immune from vicious criticism. They have declared that quality newspapers should not cross the "red line" and should maintain a sense of respect when speaking about elected officials.

The only issue is that there is no "red line" in the Kuwaiti Constitution regarding criticism of MPs. Freedom of speech in Kuwait is a right for both Kuwaitis and residents, and the only three entities that cannot be criticized in writing are God, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and His Highness the Amir. Everyone else is fair game.

Furthermore, recent amendments in press legislation have paved the way for a multitude of newspapers to come into existence. Kuwait now has more than fifteen Arabic daily newspapers in print. This means that competition in the Arabic newspaper market is quite tough. Newspapers have to compete with enticing content for a relatively small readership.

Some newspapers have resorted to heavy reliance on advertising sales to stay afloat and others have resorted to borderline yellow journalism pieces to keep the readers interested. There have been many shocking columns written recently, with topics ranging from editors-in-chief of other newspapers to a condemnation of Hamas' role in the recent Gaza massacre to MPs and their political affiliations.

None of the above is illegal. I have read almost all the columns that have caused a frenzy in the Arabic media, and to be completely honest, some of these pieces were cheap insults directed at MPs whom the columnist did not fancy while others were an embarrassing display of xenophobia and ignorance. In short, they were awful examples of writing, written by awful, mean-spirited writers. But they are not illegal.

In fact, they stand as perfect testament to the freedom of speech we have in Kuwait. Even men with substantial political clout are not immune to public criticism, and Kuwaiti newspapers continue to show that this country has the greatest freedom of speech of record in the Gulf region.

There is no "red line" regarding freedom of speech, and MPs, as ambassadors of our democracy, should be the last people in Kuwait to claim that there are individuals or institutions that cannot be criticized in public. Just as voters chose to vote for a certain MP, so too do they have the right to criticize the MP's performance and to do so in the manner that they choose, provided that they do not perpetrate slander. This is the price of leadership through public office, and MPs should have been well aware
of that before they chose to step into the political arena.

If we start to self-censor because politicians and elected officials should not be criticized, then we have given our ourselves limitations on how to communicate with our elected officials and we have taken away our own right to audit their job performance through Op-Eds (since the country has not implemented the concept of opinion polls just yet).

There are very few things going well in Kuwait at present, but our freedom of the press is one characteristic of Kuwaiti life that we, the people, are unwilling to surrender. MPs must learn to accept criticism and to respond to it with action. If they cannot do that, then they would be doing us all a favor by staying away from public offices and keeping their imaginary "red lines" to mark the borders of their diwaniyas!

Email: shamael@kuwaittimes.net

Very little to add, but 'if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen' does come to mind (even though that expression is often used for expats who say anything negative about Kuwait!). If MPs object to what's written about them, they can always write in and put across their side of the story... I'm sure none of the newspapers would mind that.

Worker's rights

Couldn't agree more...

The rights of workers
Published Date: February 11, 2009
By Muna Al-Fuzai, Staff Columnist

The issue I am writing about today is a nightmare for the many expatriate workers in Kuwait who happen to work for companies that are not concerned with and have no respect for human rights and laws that are meant to protect workers. The absconding cases against helpless workers need to be handled seriously because it is getting out of control and manipulated not only by law enforcement, but by sponsors as well.

I receive complaints every day from friends and relatives of individuals who are worried about the safety and well-being of people who have absconding cases against them. What is really sad is the fact that many of these cases are faked and based on false information provided by the sponsors themselves or by those who represent the companies they work for.

How is the law handling this issue? The worst part is that the police take down all the information about a person who has left his job and consider him a fugitive. I do not believe this is fair because some abusive sponsors believe they can stop giving their workers their salaries, and when the worker becomes fed up and runs away, the sponsor then simply reports the matter to police who then consider the employee a fugitive! Nobody bothers to check if the sponsor's allegations are true or not. If a police officer stops an absconding worker on the street, he would be arrested like a criminal, even if he was walking to a new job that paid him! The falsely accused can find their ways to court and I do recall some cases where employees sued their abusive sponsors instead of absconding.

Some expatriates find themselves in situations where, after coming back to Kuwait after going back to their home country, they are arrested because their sponsors have filed cases against them. This is especially dangerous for them because it is their word against the sponsors. It is no surprise that in most cases the sponsors win, and even if the employee happens to prove his story, the law doesn't take them into consideration.

What worries me here is that the arrested people in such cases are treated like convicted rapists or murderers, which of course is not fair. The process between getting arrested and transferred to a shelter takes weeks, if not months. Some ill-minded sponsors even go so far as to accuse their workers of theft, and their rights are then totally deprived of them and they are treated like criminals even though they are totally innocent!

There is an urgent need to revise the authority given to sponsors over his or her workers' freedom and rights. I believe it is time to make sure that no sponsor issues false allegations against his or employees and it is absolutely necessary for police to make sure that they verify the validity of the complaints issued against them. Why does the law always side with the sponsors and believe they are telling the truth in all cases?

The new labor law is in the process of being passed, but unless we start to give a close look at the sponsorship system, the change will seem partial and ineffective.
muna@kuwaittimes.net

Further change such as scrapping the sponsorship system will be a next step in establishing a legal framework for worker's rights. However, changing peoples hearts and minds to remove blatant discrimination, is a more fundamental change, and until you have leaders in the community who oppose discrimination in all its forms, rather than promote it, this change will be much harder to achieve.

So CBK has done a deal with Dar?

From today's Kuwait Times...

CBK not exposed to Dar, Global
Published Date: February 11, 2009

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said yesterday it was not exposed to troubled firms Investment Dar Co and Global Investment House, its chairman said yesterday. Global Investment House, the country's biggest investment bank, said last month it had defaulted on most of its debt, while Islamic rival Investment Dar said in December it needed up to $1 billion in loans.

Commercial Bank has no exposure to the two firms Investment Dar and Global ... Dar and Global have settled loans owed to CBK," CBK Chairman Abdul-Majeed Al-Shatti told Al Arabiya television. Global has appointed HSBC and CBK Capital, a unit of the country's third-largest lender by market value, to hold talks with creditors. Shatti said Dar had settled its debt after selling its 19.2 percent stake in Islamic lender Boubyan Bank to CBK.

In December, CBK said it had cancelled the deal it reached with Dar in November to buy the Boubyan Bank stake. But Shatti yesterday the deal had not been cancelled. "The deal was not cancelled, we have agreed with Dar to proceed with the deal cancellation," Shatti said, without giving further details. In Kuwait, stakes larger than 5 percent have to be offered to the public in an auction on the bourse. CBK owns the 19.2 percent stake in Boubyan Bank, according to bourse data posted on its website.

Hmmm. A good example of the sham that poses as a financial market in Kuwait. If Kuwait wants to be a financial centre it needs transparency, sensible regulations & rules with penalties for non-compliance, where all shareholders are treated equally and minority interests are protected, where public announcements regarding takeovers, mergers and acquisitions must adhere to quality information standards... instead of these backroom deals being done whereby the participants are presumably benefiting from dealing from insider information... A bit too much to ask?

I hope Mr Shatti has been misquoted... a deal has been done, but it wasn't cancelled, but we have agreed to proceed with deal cancellation... work that one out!