Archive for the ‘Workers’ Category

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Emirati paper: UAE “unfairly” targeted for migrant rights abuses

June 15th, 2010

Sponsorship UAE Working conditions

A recent editorial in Gulf News, the UAE’s most popular English-language newspaper, lavishly praised the UAE’s treatment of migrant workers, ignoring the egregious human rights violation migrant workers are subjected to in the Emirates.
The editorial highlighted the International Labor O…

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Israeli Arrested for Imprisoning Two Domestic Workers

June 12th, 2010

Abusive employers Housemaids Israel Legal cases Slavery Trafficking

Israeli police arrested a 51-year-old woman living in Jerusalem and freed two domestic workers who were imprisoned in her home this Friday. The woman is suspected of smuggling into the country the two women to nurse her father a few months ago. The women were forced to work around the clock caring f...

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Interview with a photojournalist who helped reveal the conditions of migrants in the UAE

June 10th, 2010

UAE Workers Working conditions

Below is an interview we conducted with Matilde Gattoni, a photojournalist who has spent a year documenting the living and working condition of migrant construction workers in the UAE. A gallery of the amazing photos can be seen on her site. First, could you introduce yourself to our readers? I’m ...

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Jobless in Jeddah: 200 OFWs stranded without pay

June 6th, 2010

Saudi Arabia Workers

200 Philippine healthcare workers have marched to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah yesterday demanding action against their employer, who has not paid their salaries for six months. The workers are nurses and clinic staff at the Al Ansar Hospital in Jeddah, which is due to be closed. Not only hav...

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Migrant workers continue to commit suicide at an alarming rate in Kuwait

June 5th, 2010

Housemaids Kuwait Suicide

Over the month of May, 17 migrant workers have attempted or committed suicide in Kuwait according to a survey of newspaper reports from the country; two maids were injured while trying to escape their sponsor’s house. This is an escalation of a trend we’ve been monitoring for quite some ...

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Israel: Farmer Arrested for “Enslaving” Thai Workers

June 3rd, 2010

Abusive employers Israel Working conditions

The Israeli police arrested this Tuesday a farmer from southern Israel who is suspected of underpaying 12 Thai workers he employed, and forcing them to work without days off. The workers contacted Kav LaOved, an Israeli migrant rights NGO and reported that their employer is paying them below the min...

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Nightmare Continues for Family of Saudi Death Row OFW

May 29th, 2010

Legal cases News Saudi Arabia Workers

The family of Joselito Zapanta, a Filipino migrant worker on death row in Saudi Arabia, are trying to raise ‘blood money’ to save their son’s life, since they are not satisfied with the legal aid that the government is providing (see full story here and here) “I have spoken wit...

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Pope Praises the UAE for ‘Openness’ to Migrants

May 27th, 2010

UAE Workers

The Pope commended the UAE for its ‘openness’ towards foreign workers, many of whom are Catholic Filippinos, on the occasion of receiving the UAE’s first ambassador to the Vatican (full story here). It seems a shame that this occasion has not triggered more discussion about the abu...

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Dubai Arrests 100 Vietnamese Protestors

May 27th, 2010

UAE Workers

Police in Dubai arrested around 100 Vietnamese construction workers for going on strike over unpaid wages earlier this month (full article here) The workers formed part of a group of 200 workers of various nationalities who marched to the Ministry of Labour to demand their rights. Those who were tak...

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