Arab Times, 28 Feb. 2009...
| Salvation for ‘Lily’? |
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| 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 |
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