Following a bloody month in March in Saudi Arabia when four migrants ended their lives or attempted to do so, April is setting a new low record with five suicides or suicide attempts in just 11 days. This month, four …
Posted in Housemaids, Saudi Arabia, Sponsorship, Suicide | 3 CommentsThis feature, ‘A Casket of Dreams’ appeared in the Kathmandu Post recently, one of Nepal’s leading English language dailies. Deepak Adhikari investigates the impact of the all-too-common phenomenon of deaths of Nepali workers overseas on their families. A Casket of …
Posted in Saudi Arabia, Workers | Leave a commentThirty Nepali cleaners have gone on strike at King Abdulalziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia over poor working conditions and unpaid wages, according to this article in Maktoob Business. The workers, who have been protesting since Feb 8th, say that …
Posted in Saudi Arabia, Workers, Working conditions | 1 CommentThe Saudi English daily Arab News published a report today about the apparent growing trend of maids who attack their employers as a response to mistreatment. The report, titled “Maids turn up the heat on sponsors” portrays the maids as …
Posted in Housemaids, Racism, Saudi Arabia | 3 CommentsThe Arab Times, Saudi’s leading English-language paper recently published a report about the prevalence of suicide by housemaids as a result of abuse and maltreatment. Most recently, a 30-year-old maid committed suicide in Saudi on February 26. Below is the …
Posted in Abusive employers, Housemaids, Saudi Arabia, Suicide | 1 CommentThis 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 …
Posted in Bahrain, Gulf, Saudi Arabia | 3 CommentsThere are 1800 Filipinos in jail in Saudi Arabia, many of whom have been imprisoned for petty crimes such as drinking alcohol or attending ‘mixed gatherings’, which the government prohibits (See full story here) The King of Saudi Arabia gave …
Posted in Gulf, Prisoners, Saudi Arabia | 1 CommentSaudi 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 …
Posted in Housemaids, Saudi Arabia, Women | 3 CommentsHuman 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 …
Posted in Bahrain, Documentation, General, Gulf, Kuwait, News, Saudi Arabia, UAE | 5 Comments