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