BBC reports:
Gulf states are failing to curb serious abuses of Sri Lankan migrant workers employed as maids in their countries, a Human Rights Watch report has said.
The US-based group says abuse of maids is rampant in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon.
Employers routinely confiscate domestic workers' passports and confine them to the workplace, the rights group says.The UAE has denied the charges, saying Human Rights Watch has ignored its efforts to improve workers' conditions.
More than 660,000 Sri Lankan women work abroad as maids, nearly 90% of them in the Gulf countries.
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