During the days of protests in Bahrain, pro-regime media outlets covered extensively the xenophobic attacks attributed to opposition elements against migrant workers in Bahrain. Pro-regime outlets used the attacks on south-Asian workers in an attempt to present the oppressed protesters as the viole…
Bahrain Further Restricts Migrant Rights while Publicly Expressing Concern for Migrants
June 29th, 2011
Israel: Migrants tell of grim conditions in holding facility for children
June 28th, 2011
Deportation Israel Prison Women
Two Israeli NGOs have launched a campaign against the deportation of migrant children, following the deportations of 26 children and their mothers and disturbing reports about the conditions in the holding facility in which the families are being held before being deported. The deportations are the ...
UAE: Two Suicides of Ethiopian Women in One Day
June 15th, 2011
The epidemic of suicides of migrant workers in the UAE continues unabated: on June 13, UAE papers reported about two suicides of Ethiopian migrant workers. At 4pm on June 11, police rushed to a house in Ras al-Khaimah where a 29-year-old Ethiopian maid attempted to end her life by overdosing on pill...
Migrant rights group welcomes Saudi’s alternative punishments
June 14th, 2011
Legal cases Prison Prisoners Saudi Arabia
Migrante-Middle East, an alliance of Filipino migrants rights providing assistance to distress, run away, stranded and jailed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) today said it lauded the plan by the Saudi government in crafting alternative punishments for crime offenders. Citing local reports, Migrante...
Kuwait: Minister Rejects Off-Days for Maids on Account of Tradition
June 11th, 2011
Housemaids Kuwait Legislation Sponsorship
Kuwait has always been heavily criticized for the treatment of migrant workers and the little attention media and the government give this serious issue. On the 9th of June, al-Qabas newspaper reported a statement taken by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) of the Minister of justice and social affairs Moham...
The plight of Eritreans in Egypt
June 11th, 2011
Deportation Egypt Legal cases Prison Refugees
This post originally appeared on the Arabist and re-posted here with permission. You should also watch Channel Four’s recently aired documentary looking at Eritreans in Sinai who tried to sneak into Israel. Asylum seekers and refugees in Egypt face a threat of deportation to countries where ...
Domestic Workers Raped, Murdered and Commit Suicide in Kuwait
June 11th, 2011
Abusive employers Death Housemaids Kuwait Rape Suicide
Since the 24th of May, no updates have appeared on the case of an Ethiopian maid who has accused her sponsor of raping her. This maid, as reported by the Kuwaiti Al-Watan daily, was able to escape her sponsor’s house after he had raped her, and went to her embassy which sent her to the police ...
Kuwait: Law Preventing Working Outdoors during the Summer
June 11th, 2011
Abusive employers Kuwait Legislation Working conditions
Walking for minutes outside in the summer of Kuwait is an unpleasant experience, people often complain. Kuwaitis keep grumbling about the high temperature that reaches 60 °C in the summer, even though they drive air conditioned cars. On the other hand, migrant workers, especially those in the const...
Third Country Nationals
June 10th, 2011
Two weeks ago, a piece by Sarah Stillman appeared in the June 6, 2011 edition of The New Yorker. Titled “The Invisible Army,” her piece follows the perils of contract workers “recruited” to work on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, introducing to me a term I had ne...
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