Indian author Shamlal Puri has just released a novel that follows that struggles of Indian migrants in the Gulf States. The novel, ‘Dubai Dreams: The Rough Road to Riches’ was released during the World Book Fair in New Delhi, and takes a human look at the impact of the financial crisis o…
Archive for the ‘Gulf’ Category
HRW-NYU Coalition Protect Workers’ Rights In Abu Dhabi
January 28th, 2010
New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Coalition for Fair Labor at New York University (NYU) have launched a campaign calling on NYU to make migrant worker protection a priority in upcoming negotiations with Abu Dhabi authorities responsible for the development and construction...
Saudi mulls ban on Asian housemaids because they ‘don’t understand our culture’
January 27th, 2010
Saudi Arabia is mulling a ban on housemaids from certain Asian countries because they are ‘not able to adapt to local culture and tradition’ and are becoming too problematic, according to this article in the Arab News. This seems a rather preposterous claim given that many of the problem...
New HRW Report Slams Gulf States for Migrant Abuses
January 26th, 2010
Bahrain Documentation General Gulf Kuwait News Saudi Arabia UAE
Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2010 is out now, and strongly condemns the Gulf states for failing to protect the rights of Migrant Workers. The full report is available here. The HRW report raises the issues of passport confiscation, abuses of domestic workers and bans on trade unions as ke...
Philippines President Arroyo Please Kuwait to Spare Life of Citizen Condemned to Death
January 25th, 2010
Ms. Jakatia Pawa, a Filipino domestic worker, was setenced on April 13, 2008 to capital punishment for murder of her employer’s 22 year old daughter. The Kuwait Court of Appeals has upheld the death verdict of the Kuwait Court of First Instance on Jakatia Pawa, the Filipino household ser...
UAE: Employer Blackmails his Former Indian Worker
January 23rd, 2010
Despite the fact that withholding of passports and blackmail are illegal in the UAE, it seems that there is a second set of rules when it comes to migrant workers. An Indian worker and his family are suffering greatly because the UAE doesn’t bother enforcing its own laws. Pravin (not his real ...
Indian Worker Kidnapped, Tortured and Starved by his Bahraini Sponsor
January 21st, 2010
A Bahraini sponsor is suspected of kidnapping and torturing his runaway worker, the Gulf Daily News reported last week. The Indian worker, K. T. Najeeb, 44, ran away from his sponsor four years ago because he was not receiving salaries, and since then was doing odd jobs to make ends meet. On January...
Sri Lanka Demands an Investigation into the Murder of an Abused Maid in Saudi Arabia
January 21st, 2010
Housemaids Legal cases Saudi Arabia
Sri Lanka is demanding a full investigation into the murder of a Balakrishnan Dharshani, a 26-year-old maid whose body was found with burn marks last December in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. According to an Arab News report from last week, Dharshani’s parents have received letters from her that detail...
Indian worker burns himself alive in the third suicide by migrant workers in Bahrain in a week
January 21st, 2010
An Indian worker set himself on fire at a labor camp in Bahrain, the Gulf Daily News reported this week. The man, Suresh Ravi, 22, locked himself in a room and then poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire. He was found with burns covering his entire body in a room that was completely dest...
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