The Globe and Mail published a report today about migrant rights in the Gulf region. While we welcome the attention the issue of migrant workers’ rights received by such a widely-read publication, it is important to challenge the narrative of the story that attempts to show how attitudes towar…
Archive for the ‘Bahrain’ Category
On the Globe & Mail’s Optimistic Report about Migrant Rights in the Gulf
August 10th, 2010
Bahrain Gulf Housemaids Kuwait Legislation Sponsorship
Middle Eastern Countries Score Poorly in US Report on Human Trafficking
June 29th, 2010
Bahrain Israel Kuwait News Trafficking
Middle Eastern countries have fared poorly in the US State Department’s latest report on human trafficking, released last week. (M-R.org and Mideast Youth Readers may be interested to know that this is the first year that the US itself has been assessed for the report. Its scores were high bu...
Local Bahraini official: We must “get rid” of “expatriate parasites”
June 26th, 2010
A senior Bahraini local council member called to “get rid” of the “expatriate parasites” whose numbers keep increasing in his constituency in the Northern Municipality of Bahrain, the Gulf Daily News reported . The council member, Abdulghani Abdulaziz, stated that the migrant...
Four Domestic Workers Commit or Attempt Suicide in Bahrain in One Week
May 4th, 2010
Within a week, two housemaids have ended their lives in Bahrain and two have attempted to do so. Bahrain does not offer protection to domestic workers under its labor laws. On April 30, the Gulf Daily News reported that the body of Samantha Kumud, a 37-year-old Sri Lankan maid was found hanging from...
Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East: Exploited, Abused and Ignored
April 30th, 2010
Abusive employers Bahrain Housemaids Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Legislation Racism Rape Saudi Arabia Sponsorship Suicide Trafficking UAE Working conditions
A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report about the rights of migrant domestic workers focused heavily on the Middle East, and for a good reason: most regional governments do not include domestic workers under the protection of its labor laws, and the current regulations leave domestic workers open to e...
UN High Commissioner in Bahrain; Migrant Rights on the Agenda
April 22nd, 2010
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillai is in Bahrain today as part of her 10-day tour of the GCC countries. Bahraini human rights activists will be attending a high-level meeting with Pillai in Manama this evening, according to this article from The Gulf Daily News: There are a number ...
The plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Gulf
March 2nd, 2010
This post was contributed by Kashfia Rahman, a Bangladeshi activist: Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world have neglected and mistreated migrant workers without being given the basic human rights. Around 90,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers live and work in Bahrain, 10 per cent of the total popul...
400 Migrant Workers Strike in Bahrain due to Unpaid Wages
February 28th, 2010
Nearly 400 workers employed in the company in charge of building the Isa Town flyover have gone unpaid for the last three months, the Gulf Daily News reported this week. Last Wednesday (February 24), the workers who are employed by the Korean company Sungwon protested in front of the Bahraini Labour...
Bahrain: Two Asian Men Arrested for Rape of an Indonesian Maid
February 23rd, 2010
Bahraini security officials have detained two Asian men in connection with the alleged gang rape of an Indonesian housemaid. Officials from the Interior Ministry announced that two expatriates were arrested and further confirmed that not nine men raped the women according to earlier reports. Accordi...
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