NGOs from migrant-sending countries periodically condemn Gulf states for the inequitable treatment of detained or convicted migrant workers. Gulf legal systems systematically preclude migrant workers from obtaining just trials by barring their access to fair representation and subjecting them to undue …
Posted in Gulf, Prison, Prisoners, UAE | Leave a commentEarlier this month, Alem’s story vividly illustrated the undeniable link between suicide and abuse. The Ethiopian domestic worker was beaten savagely the middle of a crowded Lebanese street, later committing suicide in a government hospital. Thanks to video that documented …
Posted in Housemaids, Kuwait, News, Suicide, UAE, Workers | 2 CommentsGulf media outlets continue to turn out puzzling, skewed, and often offensive pieces about domestic workers employed in the region. Recently, we’ve posted several pieces exposing the absurd, intentional misrepresentations of foreign domestic workers. But sometimes, a story successfully perpetuates …
Posted in Abusive employers, Gulf, Housemaids, UAE | 1 CommentDomestic worker advocates have long argued that crimes committed by maids are almost always the product of abuse. Media across the Middle East, but especially in the Gulf, often report on domestic worker crimes without adequate context. Additionally, the rarity …
Posted in Housemaids, UAE, Working conditions | Leave a commentForbes.com has ranked the UAE as the least friendly country in the world for expat workers. Countries trailing closely behind include Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The ranking was framed around the HSBC’s Expat Explorer Survey, which polls expats across 100 …
Posted in UAE | Leave a commentA new study conducted by the Community Medicine Department of the United Arab Emirates University reveals that at least 25.1% of migrant workers are clinically depressed. The study was conducted on 318 labor camp workers using translated questionnaires. The abstract …
Posted in Suicide, UAE, Workers | 1 CommentLast week, CNN featured a collection of photography illuminating the ‘ghost’-like existence of migrant workers in the UAE. Photographer Philippe Chancel calls these cheap laborers “new slaves,” who underpin the Gulf’s hyper-development yet remain marginalized by society. His photographs illustrate …
Posted in General, UAE, Workers | Leave a commentThe kafala or sponsorship system in the Gulf should be abolished, this is an absolute prerequisite for the full personhood and humanization of domestic workers. The Philippine government’s new standards for overseas domestic workers and tentative bans on 41 non-compliant host countries are praiseworthy but far from promising–it is highly doubtful that this cosmetically laudable “concrete plan” will make it far off of the pages of the government’s issuance.
Posted in Gulf, Housemaids, Sponsorship, UAE, Women | 2 CommentsThe social and medical effects of the GCC’s controversial tuberculosis (TB) deportation laws may not be worth the supposed advantages. The UAE deports individuals with active, new, or old pulmonary TB scars. Health officials claim to only deport newcomers, and …
Posted in Deportation, Gulf, Legislation, UAE | 3 Comments