India Pushes for Worker Rights in Gulf

According to the AP -

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil-rich Gulf nations, already facing labor protests, are getting new pressure from India, which wants them to pay minimum wages for unskilled workers.
The move by India — which has 5 million workers in the Gulf, making it the largest source of migrants — is the […]



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1,300 migrant workers strike in Bahrain over pay

From the AFP:
MANAMA (AFP) — Around 1,300 migrant workers helping to build a luxury coastal development in Bahrain have gone on strike to demand higher wages, a company official said on Sunday.
The workers are employed by the contracting firm GP Zachariades to work on the Durrat al-Bahrain development in the south of the wealthy Gulf […]



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Labour Minister using migrant workers as scapegoat for government’s economic failures

Laudable statement from The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights:

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns recent comments made by the Labour Minister (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/gulfimmigrationlabour), in which he warns that Gulf countries face danger of an “Asian tsunami” because of the high numbers of migrant workers upon which Gulf countries are reliant.
Minister Majid al-Alawi allegedly said […]



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Links to devastating cases

This is a compilation of articles concerning migrant workers in the Middle East.
- Slavery of children and women in Persian gulf countries
- Most citizens of Kazakhstan who fall victim to human trafficking are sent to the UAE
- May 26: “A group of Iranian boys and girls will be sold in an auction today in Fojeyreh, […]



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Condition of Indian workers in Gulf pitiable

Business Standard features a Q&A session with overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, who discusses the recent uprising by Indian workers in Dubai:

For the first time after the attack on Kuwait, things are getting worse for Indian workers in the Gulf. How worried are you about this?
Just a few days ago, Dubai saw a major […]



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No domestic bliss

Featured on LA Times’ “Babylon and Beyond”:
Human rights advocates have shined a spotlight on the plight of maids from South Asia imported to the Middle East. The nonprofit group Human Rights Watch has accused the Lebanese and other governments in the Middle East of failing to curb serious abuses against Sri Lankan domestic workers.

New-York-based HRW […]



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Sri Lanka abuse ‘rampant’ in Gulf

BBC reports:
Gulf states are failing to curb serious abuses of Sri Lankan migrant workers employed as maids in their countries, a Human Rights Watch report has said.
The US-based group says abuse of maids is rampant in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon.

Employers routinely confiscate domestic workers’ passports and confine them to the […]



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Gulf states ‘fail to curb abuse of maids’

The Financial Times reports:
The governments of the Gulf are failing to curb the abuse of domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
The pressure group called on states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to widen existing labour regulations to cover maids, most of whom come from India, Sri Lanka and […]



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Yet another strike for their rights

1st November 2007- Kuwait Times
Nancy Otefia, Kuwait
More than 250 Bangladeshi employees working for a local cleaning company near Al Shaab Leisure Park went on strike for not receiving their salaries and being thrown out of their accommodations. Many of these workers have spent a year in this company without receiving any money, while others spent […]



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No safety for construction workers

From Oman Community Blog:
…it looks like safety measures are disappearing into thin air. Seen below are workers working in Ruwi without protective helmets/headgear.



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