Saudi-based M-ME regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona revealed, citing his group monitoring of illegal recruitment cases in the Middle East, they’re receiving on the average 10 OFWs victim of illegal recruitment asking for assistance.

Monterona added following the strictest sense of the definition of illegal recruitment activities as defined by law (RA 10022), the average number of OFWs as victim of illegal recruitment will surge.

“Illegal recruitment has been fully defined in the newly amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act or RA 10022. The amended law indentifies more or less 21 illegal recruitment activities that fall within the category of either syndicated or large scale illegal recruitment,” Monterona noted.

Monterona cited for instance charging of excessive placement fee by a recruitment agency to an OFW or would-be OFW is an illegal recruitment activity -a crime, which of course, is punishable by law.

Contract tampering and substitution is also an illegal recruitment activity, wantonly committed by recruitment agencies in cahoots with its counterpart local agencies in the host country, according to Monterona.

Monterona citing POEA 2010 statistics, the govt. handled 1,648 cases of illegal recruitment but it only acted and resolved 283, translated to 17.2% disposition rate; 1,365 cases were pending at end year of 2010.

“On 2004, only 12 persons were arrested and 6 recruitment agencies were closed, out of the 1,648 case of illegal recruitment handdled by the POEA,” Monterona noted.

Illegal recruitment cases disposition recorded by the POEA which was its highest rate recorded on 2004 with 44.5% or 650 cases have been acted out of 1,462 illegal recruitment cases.

“The low incidence of illegal recruitment and trafficking cases officially recorded by the government is due to the govt. agencies and labor offices abroad reluctance to pursue and provide support to OFWs to file cases against illegal recruiters,” Monterona added.

He observed that instead of providing support to the victims of illegal recruitment, labor officials are often cited by the victims discouraging them to file cases either in host country labor court or in the POEA or in the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

“The Aquino administration has to work hard in filling and pursuing cases against illegal recruiters and human traffickers if it’s really sincere in combating the rampant illegal recruitment activities victimizing thousands of OFWs and applicants,” Monterona ended. # # #

Written by:

John Leonard Monterona

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator

Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said his group is receiving requests for assistance from undocumented OFWs in Jordan for fear of being caught amid arrest of more than 30 of them since last Monday, September 26.

“As per reports we have received from some of the undocumented OFWs who asked our assistance, there are 20 women OFWs, who used to work as domestic workers in Jordan, were nabbed by the host govt. authorities last Monday,” Monterona added.

The following day, another 8 undocumented OFWs were caught by the host govt. authorities.

Monterona citing reports from the undocumented OFWs, the host govt. authorities are massively conducting house-to-house search of illegal or undocumented migrants in its capital city, Amman and other nearby places.

“Report reaching us is that the host govt. recently issued an instruction to conduct house-to-house search to clean-up the country amid proliferation of undocumented migrants,” Monterona adding that his group is still verifying if the crackdown is only targeting undocumented OFWs or migrants of other nationalities, too.

Monterona said most of the undocumented OFWs were ‘absconder’ or those who were forced to run away from their employers due to abuse and maltreatment and violations of their employment contract.

Monterona noted the deplorable conditions and rampant abuse and maltreatment of OFWs in Jordan prompted the PH govt. to imposed a ban on the deployment of household service workers or popularly known as domestic helpers in January 2008.

“As an off-shoot of the imposition of deployment ban in Jordan, just as like of the ban imposed in Lebanon, illegal deployment activities by human traffickers and illegal recruiters victimizing thousands of OFWs and aspiring OFWs, had only proliferated” Monterona said.

As the host govt. intensifies the crackdown of undocumented OFWs, Monterona calls on the host govt. to respect the fundamental human rights of the undocumented OFWs.

“We appeal to the host govt. to regularize, if not immediately repatriate, the undocumented OFWs and migrants of other nationalities while ensuring that their rights are respected,” Monterona averred.

The Saudi-based OFW leader also calls on the PH embassy officials in Jordan to provide assistance to the nabbed undocumented OFWs and liaise with the concerned host govt. authorities for their documentation or immediate repatriation.

According to Monterona, as per his group estimate, there are around 40,000 to 50,000 OFWs in Jordan.

“Sixty percent, or even more, are undocumented,” Monterona ended. # # #

Written by:

John Leonard Monterona

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator

Email: migranteme@gmail.com

Receiving reports from its chapter in Al-Khobar, Eastern region of Saudi Arabia, John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator said Saudi authorities started raiding various accommodations of migrant workers in suspicion that there are overstaying and undocumented expatriates.

Yesterday night, a composite team from Jawasat police and mutawa (cultural police) started the crackdown by raiding accommodations and houses at Tukbah, Al-Khobar, where suspected undocumented migrants are staying.

“We appeal to the Saudi government to respect the rights of undocumented migrants, including OFWs in the conduct of its intensified campaign to hunt ‘illegal’ and undocumented migrants,” Monterona averred.

Monterona said Migrante, as an organization advancing and defending the rights and welfare of migrant workers, is urging the Saudi government to consider granting a general amnesty that would cover illegal and undocumented migrant workers.

He also calls on the attention of the Philippine Embassy under the leadership of Charges de Affairs, Ad interim, Ezzadin Tago to make the same appeal to the Saudi government and properly represent those apprehended.

“We also calls on the Aquino govt. through the Office of Vice President Jejomar Binay and the Department of Foreign Affairs to lobby to the host government the legalization of all undocumented OFWs, giving them the option to be repatriated or to stay, and find job in the Kingdom,” Monterona added.

Last October, the Saudi government granted a Royal pardon but it was known later that it applies only to pilgrims and holder of visit visas who already lapsed and overstayed.

The Royal pardon would end until 31 March next year.

Written by:

John Leonard Monterona

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator

Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Matthew Cassel, I am a photographer and journalist from Chicago currently living in Beirut.

What prompted you to begin this project of photographing migrant domestic workers in Lebanon?

I began working on this issue after Theresa Seda, a 28-year-old domestic worker and mother of three from the Philippines, fell to her death from the seventh floor balcony of her employer’s home across the street from my home in Beirut.

Soon after I was approached by KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation, a Lebanese NGO that is doing research and advocacy work on the issue of violence against women in Lebanon, which includes migrant domestic workers. We wanted to put together a photo project that showed the lives and culture of these women to accompany KAFA’s important research.

The title of your work is “Unseen Lives”. Why do you think Lebanese society is generally unaware of the lives of expatriate domestic workers?

It’s not only Lebanese society that is unaware of the lives of workers, whether they be foreigners or locals. Around the world, especially in my native country the US, workers often go unnoticed and unappreciated for their importance in society. Do most shoppers go to the grocery store and think about who makes the various products or who harvests and delivers fruits and vegetables? And even when we see workers every day like those working construction or collecting garbage, how often do most stop and think about that worker’s story? I would say “unseen lives” is a universal term to describe workers around the world who are rarely given a voice by most mainstream media and popular culture.

However, the situation is a bit different in a country like Lebanon where more and more migrants are coming in search of work and are increasingly being denied even the most basic rights. The situation is more dire here than other places, especially considering the increasing number of domestic workers who have died in recent years, and I think it’s an issue that should spark outrage and force people to act immediately.

Some of the photographs from the essay were shot inside the homes the maids worked in and documented their daily routine. What are you observations about their working and living conditions? Do you think those conditions may differ in other homes?

Conditions differ from home to home. But in my opinion, hiring a woman to live and work inside your home leaving her with no separation between her personal and work life is enough to be considered exploitation and mistreatment. In every home where women both work and live, they are “at work” 24/7 (there is even a new activist group called 24/7 that organizes to support domestic workers). They can be woken up in the middle of the night to take care of a sick child or leaky faucet. Never, except for those who are actually allowed a day off, are they “off the clock” and away from their work. And usually a day off means a few hour break on Sunday or other day when most women have to spend that time constantly checking the clock so they don’t violate their curfew and upset their employers. Since workers have little to no protection, the few rights they might have are entirely at the whim of the employer and can be taken away at any second. The employer can give them additional work, not allow them a day off, and take advantage of them in other ways. Therefore, many workers who I met share a sense of not wanting to upset their employer, or, “keep madame happy” as I heard some women say.

In the few homes where I photographed, women were treated well and were happy with their jobs. As I say in the project’s statement, this body of photographs in no way accurately portrays the lives of most domestic workers in this country. Those who I could photograph had a “better” situation than most in the sense that they were able to leave their employers’ homes or their employers were comfortable asking their domestic workers if I could photograph them in the work place. Obviously, an employer who mistreats or abuses their worker wouldn’t want to allow an American photographer in to expose that situation. But I know that such situations do exist and that they are not rare. Many women who have been here for a few years or more have had more than one employer, and they described to me how either they or other workers who they know have faced or are currently facing abuse and mistreatment from their employers. It’s frightening to hear these stories knowing that there is very little that can be done in most cases.

Theresa Seda was an example of this. In the two months that she worked in Lebanon, she was never able to leave the home unless it was to take care of her employer’s kids when the family went out. She was essentially a prisoner in her employer’s home although she committed no crime. And unfortunately, many women face a similar situation.

So, while the conditions may differ slightly from home to home, in general the system of hiring foreign women as domestic workers is broken and needs to be fixed.

Were you able to communicate with some of the maids? What did they tell you about working conditions? What are their perceptions of Lebanese society?

I was able to communicate with many different women from every country that domestic workers in Lebanon come from. And I found that very few women, a definite minority, had positive views of Lebanese society. The overwhelming majority who I spoke with — and mind you these are the workers who have better situations — have become used to living and working in this society and are very critical of the way they’re treated by Lebanese civilians and authorities. Unless a woman has or had an especially good relationship with her employers, it’s rare that she would recall stories of when she felt she had a Lebanese friend or someone she felt she could trust. This helps explain the tightly knit societies that exist between migrant workers. When they can, women reach out to their other countrywomen who they can speak their native language with, and they’ll even reach out to workers from other countries who they might have trouble communicating with just to form a network and strengthen the worker community. Almost all who I’ve met seem to have the attitude that no Lebanese are going to protect them, so they have to protect themselves.

Was there one scene in particular that made an impression on you during the months of photographing migrant domestic workers?

Obviously, Theresa’s death across the street from my home affected me most. It’s difficult to put into words
the feelings I had as I watched her body lie in the street and under the rain covered only by a white tarp held down by a broken plastic chair, a flower pot, and bits of cement. On the street around her body, people walked by and cars passed, it seemed to be business as usual and was very surreal to witness. But it showed me how little rights these foreign women in Lebanon have, even in death. After that moment I had no choice other than to speak out and take action.

The other scenes that affected me most were the ones that I couldn’t photograph. One worker in particular who is a very active member in the worker community and who has also become a very close friend of mine, told me horrific stories every day about new cases of abuses that she discovered through her networks. There is one woman in particular who comes from the same country as she does and who managed to get in touch with my friend and tell her that she needed help. The woman had only one minute to explain on a pay phone as she walked her employer’s dog near their home.

My friend was able to quickly jot down some details about the home and the surrounding area before she told the other worker to write her testimony detailing her situation and the abuse she faced on a piece of paper that she could come pick up from her later. I went with my friend after her job one day, and we spent hours following the clues until we found the house where the woman worked. As we stood across the street looking at the house it was awful to realize that inside a woman was being abused and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. We had to leave so that my friend could come back and wait around the corner for the next time the worker left with the dog so she can pick up the note from her.

For my friend, this was something she does on a regular basis. She calls it “note-dropping,” sometimes she picks up notes from trash cans, from under balconies, from the grocery store. The notes are just the first step before she takes them to one of the NGOs to see if a lawyer can get involved and help the abused worker. And even when a lawyer does get involved, it’s far from guaranteed that the abused worker can be rescued from her employer.

Seeing the commitment that my friend and so many other workers in Lebanon have to their community left the biggest impression on me. It’s really been an honor for me to get to know people who have no money, no rights, no free time, yet still somehow manage to organize themselves and struggle for justice.

What would you like our readers to know about migrant domestic workers in Lebanon?

I wish that everyone would get to know these women and listen to them talk about their lives, their families, their homes and everything else that they’ve had to leave behind in search of work. Their struggle is incredible and it’s far from over, they deserve our respect and support.

Unseen Lives: Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon – Images by Matthew Cassel

Previous reports by Migrant-Rights.org have exposed an alarming trend of suicides by migrant workers in Kuwait. In May 2010 alone, we documented 17 cases of suicide and attempted suicide by domestic workers in Kuwait. During April, 12 migrant workers attempted or succeeded in ending their lives in Kuwait. During March and the end of February, there were 13 reported cases of suicide and suicide attempt by migrants in the emirate. And during November of 2008 we’ve covered another 13 cases of suicide and attempted suicides by expatriate workers.

On June 2, an Asian maid killed herself by swallowing detergent in her sponsor’s home in Waha, al-Jahra. On the same day, an unidentified woman attempted to kill herself by swallowing chemicals and was taken to the hospital where her stomach was washed. The fact that the paper did not bother identifying the woman indicates that she is a foreigner. On June 6 in was reported that an Asian woman jumped to her death from a residential building in al-Jahra. A day later, on June 7, it was reported that a Filipino maid threatened to kill herself after an argument with her sponsor’s wife in their home in Ardiya. The security forces that arrived at the scene managed to talk the maid out of taking her life.

On June 9, a Filipina maid ended her life by jumping from the fifth floor of her sponsor’s house in Hawali. Two days later, on June 11, a Filipina maid “fell” to her death from the fifth floor in her sponsor’s house in Mahboula.

On June 14, a Sri-Lankan domestic worker hanged himself to death from the ceiling in his sponsor’s home in Ferdous. A day later it was reported that a 26-year-old Ethiopian maid attempted to kill herself by swallowing poison. She was rushed to the hospital in time. The paper claimed that the maid suffered from psychological problems. The next day a 33-year-old Indian woman was rushed to the hospital after attempting to end her life by swallowing chemicals. On June 22, a 30-year-old Filipino housemaid attempted to kill herself by overdosing on pills. She was found unconscious and was rushed to the hospital in time.

The month of July began with a report on the 1st about the suicide of an Indian migrant in his apartment in Faranwiya. On July 3, an Asian domestic worker attempted to take her own life in her sponsor’s house in Naim-Jahara by drinking insecticide. A day later, on July 4, an Ethiopian maid hanged herself to death shortly after arriving to her sponsor’s house in al-Jahra.

On July 6, there were three reported cases of suicide by migrant workers. A 39-year-old Indian worker swallowed detergent and then sustained further severe injuries when falling from a building of a private university in Salmiya. The woman was rushed to the ICU in Mubarak al-Kabeer hospital. On the same day, al-Qabas daily reported about the suicide by hanging of an Asian worker in the office of a construction company he worked in, and the attempted suicide of an Ethiopian maid who swallowed insecticide in her sponsor’s house in Naim-Jahra.

On July 16, a Filipino maid in her 30s was hospitalized for attempting to kill herself by overdosing on drugs. Three days later, on July 19, an Indonesian maid suffered several fractures after attempting to end her life by jumping off the third floor of her sponsor’s home in the Sabah Al-Nasser area. The next day, a 35-year-old Asian man was taken to the Mubarak al-Kabeer hospital after slashing his right hand in an attempt to kill himself. Three days later, of July 22, it was reported that a 34-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid killed herself by jumping from the third floor of her sponsor’s house in the Abdullah Mubarak area.

On July 24, a 23-year-old Nepalese domestic worker ended her life by hanging in her sponsor’s house in Oyoun, al-Jahra. On the next day, a 30-year-old Nepalese maid hanged herself to death from a ceiling-fan in her sponsor’s house in al-Jahra (report in Arabic contains disturbing photograph, beware). On July 29, an Asian man hanged himself to death from a ceiling fan in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Once again, the report claims the victim suffered from psychological problems.

Reports about these miserable workers are pushed to the back pages of newspapers in Kuwait, and the Gulf region in general. The workers are nameless in their death as they are in their lives, with the papers not bothering to learn the name of the workers and sometimes even their age and nationality. Other than one report, no one in the Kuwaiti media tries to understand the reasons for this tragic phenomena. Reports suggest that the reason for suicides are psychological problems of the victims, without trying to understand what about the treatment of the sponsor leads these migrant workers to suicide en masse.

Domestic workers in Kuwait are excluded from the protection of its labor laws. A recent U.S. State Department report detailed the conditions many migrant workers are subjected to in Kuwait:

Although these migrants enter Kuwait voluntarily, upon arrival some are subjected to conditions of forced labor by their sponsors and labor agents, including through such practices as non-payment of wages, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement, such as the withholding of passports. Labor recruitment agencies and their subagents at the community level in South Asia may coerce or defraud workers into accepting work in Kuwait that turns out to be exploitative and, in some instances, constitutes involuntary servitude.

Given this type of treatment, many workers see no choice out of their desperate situation other than taking their lives.

The HRW report raises the issues of passport confiscation, abuses of domestic workers and bans on trade unions as key issues in the region. Bahrain and Kuwait have taken steps towards removing the kafala system, which ties the right of a migrant to remain in the country to the permission of his sponsor. However, a disturbing finding is that migrant domestic workers are excluded from the new legislation. This is particularly concerning to M-R.org given the spate of suicides and attempted suicides by distressed maids working in the region in recent months (see here and here)

Here are some extracts:

Bahrain

In May 2009 Minister of Labor Majeed al-Alawi announced a proposed revision to Bahrain’s kafala (sponsorship) system designed to reduce the risk ofexploitation and abuse of migrant workers. The former system tied migrants’ work visas and immigration status to their employers, enabling employer abuses and preventing workers from changing jobs or leaving the country. Under the amended law, which was adopted on August 1, the government officially sponsors each worker, allowing him or her to more easily change employers. At this writing it remains unclear whether the reform has been fully implemented. Bahrain’s business
community strongly opposed the changes, and workers still need the defacto sponsorship of an individual or company in order to remain in the country legally. Migrant workers complain that some employers illegally withhold passports and fail to pay wages.

The amended law excludes migrant domestic workers, who are at especially high risk of abuse due to their isolation in private homes. In 2009 prominent cases involved physical abuse, forced confinement, and the death of domestic workers.

Kuwait

Parliament in May 2009 debated a draft revision of the Labor Law that would incorporate more protective provisions on wages, working hours, and safety. However, it does not establish monitoring mechanisms for workers’ rights, and continues to exclude domestic workers from its protections. Approximately 700,000 migrant women—chiefly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines—are employed in Kuwait as full-time live-in domestic workers. Their exclusion under the current labor law deprives them of protections afforded other workers, such as a weekly rest day and limits on working hours. Many domestic workers complain of confinement in the house, long working hours without rest, months or years of unpaid wages, and sometimes verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Domestic workers who fled abusive situations at their workplace have often become stranded at their embassies, at deportation centers, or
at recruitment agencies. In October 2009 Indonesia banned further migration of domestic workers to Kuwait in response to having 600 workers trapped in its embassy. A major barrier to the redress of labor abuses is the sponsorship (kafala) system by which a migrant worker’s legal residence in Kuwait is tied to his or her employer, who serves as a “sponsor.” Migrant workers can only transfer employmentwith their sponsor’s consent, although a reform in August 2009 frees them of this requirement if they have worked more than three years (migrant domestic workers do not benefit from this provision). Sponsorship traps workers in abusive situations,
including in situations of forced labor, and blocks their access to means of redress. If an employer withdraws sponsorship, workers who flee abusive workplaces can be arrested and deported for being out of status in the country. Kuwaiti law enforcement officials rarely bring to justice Kuwaitis who abuse their powers as sponsors.

Saudi Arabia

An estimated eight million largely Asian and Arab foreign workers fill manual, clerical, and service jobs. Many suffer multiple abuses and labor exploitation, sometimes rising to slavery-like conditions. A new anti-trafficking law passed in July set prison sentences of up to 15 years for forced labor. However, Saudi Arabia made little progress reforming the restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system that
ties migrant workers’ residency permits to their employers, fueling abuses such as employers confiscating passports, withholding wages, and forcing migrants to work against their will.

In July 2009 the advisory Shura Council extended some labor protections to the 1.5 million migrant domestic workers, but excluded the right of workers to leave the house or keep their passports, and obliges them to obey the employers. Asian embassies report thousands of complaints each year from domestic workers forced to work 15-20 hours a day, seven days a week, and denied their
salaries. Domestic workers frequently endure forced confinement, food deprivation, and severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse.

Migrants sometimes face severe delays in the immigration and justice systems, and obstacles such as lack of access to interpreters, legal aid, or their consulates. Few migrants successfully pursue criminal cases against abusive employers. Following a dispute with his sponsor, officials on October 26 detained pending deportation Usama Hijazi, an Egyptian legal adviser living in Saudi Arabia for 16
years. Hijazi had just won a court ruling in his favor against his sponsor, granting him 155,000 riyal (US$41,000) and allowing him to transfer his sponsorship. Authorities repatriated Keni binti Carda, an Indonesian domestic worker, in late 2008 before she could formally complain about her employers causing her severe burns and prying out her teeth. She returned to Riyadh to press charges, but as of
November 2009 criminal proceedings had yet to begin. In August Saudi morality police raided a shelter run by a Filipino support group, though prosecutors later dropped charges against 18 persons present.

UAE

Many female domestic workers are subjected to unpaid wages, food deprivation, forced confinement, and physical or sexual abuse. In August 2009 the Philippines government paid to fly home 44 Filipinas who had been living for months at a shelter. The women were among 127 Filipinas, mostly housemaids, who fled their workplace after complaining of mistreatment, long working hours, insufficient
food, and nonpayment of salaries. The standard contract for domestic workers introduced in April 2007 provides some protections and calls for “adequate breaks,” but does not limit working hours or provide for a weekly rest day, overtime pay, or workers’ compensation.
Exploitation of migrant workers by construction companies across the country is also severe: abuses include maintaining unsafe working environments that contribute to avoidable illness or deaths, and withholding workers’ travel documents. On August 31, 2009, police and labor officials quickly dispersed a demonstration over low wages by as many as 2,000 striking migrant workers employed by construction
and engineering company Al Habtoor in Dubai. A Ministry of Labor investigation into the strike cleared the company of any wrongdoing after determining it had not broken any rules regarding pay.

The report also mentions the case of UAE royal family member Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan who is still yet to be charged for torturing an Afghan migrant. Disturbing video footage of Al Nahyan whipping, beating and finally running over the man with his car in the desert was leaked in 2009.

“In August, the Philippines Embassy reported that 117 women who had escaped from maltreatment were sleeping on the embassy floor,” the article says. “The Catholic relief organization CARITAS also estimated that they have an average of 40 runaway domestics sleeping in their shelter at any one time.”

The author also points out that while the Lebanese government issued standardized contracts for domestic workers, granting them a day off each week, the contracts are not being enforced.

According to Saudi law, once a worker enters the country, his passport is confiscated and kept by his sponsor. Therefore, workers who flee their employers, are left without the needed documents to return home. The AFP article highlights the stort of Trina Chandrakarya, a Sri Lankan woman who worked in Saudi Arabia as a maid. After she had gone unpaid for five months, she fled her sponsor and worked in the black market. Now she wishes to return to her children back home, but she doesn’t have her passport or an exit permit.

It should be noted that a report by The National Newspaper (UAE) covered this phenomenon in late September. In their report, the migrants staying under the bridge are doing so to “piggyback” on the Saudi government’s tradition of paying for the tickets home of Umra and Hajj over-stayers. The National report asserts that while the lack of passports and exit permits “complicates and delays” the deportation process, the reason these workers choose to live under the bridge for months is to avoid paying for their flight home.

Lock up rogue sponsors – not their victims!
By Les Horton

Yet again we see a report in the GDN of two allegedly abused workers trapped in Bahrain because their sponsors refuse to hand over their passports.

The Migrant Workers Protection Society criticises police for alleged lack of co-operation and in fact obstructing efforts to rescue such people by either arresting them or handing them back to their sponsors, like pieces of property.

On the other hand, the Interior Ministry says the MWPS needs to work within the rules and to go through the ministry’s Complaints and Human Rights Directorate – a doubtless laborious exercise in what are urgent situations.

But no-one seems to be addressing the real issue – that the sponsors themselves are guilty of the crime of theft and as such should be arrested and charged.

A passport is the property of the country which issues it and no-one, repeat no-one, has the right to seize it, certainly not employers, whether they be corporations or housewives taking on a maid.

To do so is theft and embassies should stop pussyfooting around and file formal charges every time a sponsor refuses to hand back a passport, regardless of the allegations and counter-allegations between the two parties.

If the sponsor then claims to have lost the passport – as many do – then the charge should stand, since being in possession of it against the employees’ will was illegal in the first place.

Bahrain has in recent years publicly acknowledged the practice of employers taking possession of passports and that it is illegal – but has done nothing about it.

Embassies are sadly more concerned with securing business for their respective countries than with protecting citizens overseas, so they do nothing about it either.

It is time ambassadors did their jobs and demanded that host countries, be it Bahrain or elsewhere, stop ignoring international law. Police still act on the assumption that sponsors have rights over employees which the government itself has said they do not – it has in fact said that there is no such thing in law as a “sponsor”.

So police must stop handing back so-called runaways to the sponsors. If by leaving their employment, they have broken the immigration laws, then they should be handed over to immigration authorities and their embassies informed.

This ability of sponsors to effectively hold people prisoner in Bahrain is straight out of the dark ages and is a blemish on Bahrain’s character.

It is time embassies, the police and the government each did their jobs in ensuring that laws are properly enforced.

If a sponsor refuses to hand back a passport, put him in the cells – not the victim.

lhorton@gdn.com.bh