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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“I still cannot believe that I am out of this ordeal that I have undergone for the past 10 years,” said Anista Marie, 40, who since 1999 hasn’t received her salary. Marie called up Arab News a little over 3 weeks ago saying she has been imprisoned and abused in the home of her sponsor [...]
Campaign to ensure implementation of break rule in Bahrain launched
By Suad Hamada, Special to Gulf News
Manama: A massive labour inspection campaign started yesterday to ensure implementation of the ban on construction and other outdoor work between noon and 4pm, labour official said.
The Director of Public and International Relations at the Ministry of Labour Subah Al [...]
Runaway suffers miscarriage at shelter
A distressed Filipina worker at the Philippine embassy shelter shocked officials on Thursday evening when she miscarried.
Fellow inmates first thought the worker, a woman in thirties, was bleeding because of some illness till they realised that she had a miscarriage. A doctor and paramedics were called to help the woman. The [...]
After less than one month on the job, Filipino housemaid Amelyn Albores Sayson has commit suicide by jumping from the fifth story balcony of her employer’s (read: owner’s) apartment.
These stories come out of Lebanon rather frequently. Migrant Rights posted an article regarding the dismal situation of migrant house maids from the Philippines and Sri [...]
Amnesty ‘to draw wide response’ ahead of reforms
By Suad Hamada, Special to Gulf News
Manama: The amnesty for runaway expatriate workers is expected to be more successful than the one granted in 2002 which attracted around 5,000 individuals because of the government’s new tough regulations, activists said yesterday.
The number of runaway and free-visa workers is estimated [...]
Report- Bahrain Tribune
Yet another Indian committed suicide yesterday evening in Riffa. The 35-year-old Indian working in a boutique in East Riffa committed suicide by hanging himself from the fan.
According to information released, the Indian had been experiencing financial problems following the expansion of his shop. The business he expected to come in was not forthcoming. [...]