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Gulf’s Foreign Workers – A Tragedy Unfolding?

January 23rd, 2008Esra'a (Bahrain)

I was interviewed recently for the Media Line and was asked questions concerning migrant workers in the Middle East and how/why we’re trying to help them through our website.

You can listen to it by clicking here.

This is an excerpt of the associated article:

A-Shafe’i’s words are echoed by Khawla Mattar, a senior specialist on employment principles and rights with the International Labor Organization (ILO). It is obvious that the treatment of these workers is not up to standard; there is no protection of their rights at all, says Mattar.

Mattar and A-Shafe’i agree that better legislation is required. There is little legal protection for foreign workers in the Gulf, which makes abuse more likely, says Mattar. However, while Mattar maintains that some governments are beginning to take the matter seriously, A-Shafe’i thinks the problem is mainly ignored.

Some countries, such as Bahrain, are growing increasingly aware of foreign workers’ needs, says Arindam Basu of The National Human Rights Committee in Doha, Qatar. Since Bahrain began running short of oil revenues it has been forced to pursue a more progressive labor policy, he argues. But, at the other end of the scale, are countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which still enjoy huge oil revenues and are less pressured to accommodate foreign workers, he points out.

Basu agrees that the situation regarding legal representation in Qatar is as A-Shafe’i describes. Most disputes over working conditions are ruled in the lower courts and the only participants are the plaintiff with or without a translator, the defendant, and a judge. Here too, lawyers are only involved if a serious crime is committed.

Read the full article here.

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17 Responses to “Gulf’s Foreign Workers – A Tragedy Unfolding?”

  1. #1 Murad (Kuwait) - January 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am

    Beautiful. I’m proud to know you.

  2. #2 Nissim Dahan (Israel/USA) - January 23rd, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    Very good interview, Esra’a. It’s nice to be able to put a voice to a name.

    It also says a lot about you, that you show concern for those whom others would rather ignore. If only more people followed your example. Therein lies the hope for mankind.

  3. #3 Global Voices Online » Bahrain: Conditions of Migrant Workers - January 24th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    [...] from Bahrain links to a media interview conducted with her about the conditions of migrant workers in the Gulf. [...]

  4. #4 R E Konrad - January 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    Wow! But it is cheaper than outright slavery isn’t it? If an unscrupulous employer can “con” workers into comming, and not pay for housing, medical attention and food, the cost outlay for manual labour workers is way cheaper than paying for the upkeep of an actual slave. Illegal mexican immigrants are treated much the same way, except the government in the USA pays for many freebies to make their life easier and my taxes go up, and up, and up.

  5. #5 elinor(Iran) - January 24th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Esra’a :)
    Thank you for being Esra’a :) You inspire me lady.

  6. #6 Sol (Morocco/UK) - January 24th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    doesn’t seem to be working?

  7. #7 Esra'a - January 24th, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    The link does – the player for some reason doesn’t. I think it’s because it’s streaming audio.

  8. #8 Amal - January 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am

    It makes me happy and excited to see such a well accomplished and well spoken young lady from the region who is this hard working and confident.

    Thank you Esra’a for everything that you do. You amaze me more and more each day.

  9. #9 Esra'a - January 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am

    Thank you Nissim, Murad, Elinor and Amal for the very kind words.

    I would like to thank my good friend Sam in Kuwait for being my 2nd hand at the Migrant Rights project. Without her support, a lot of our achievements wouldn’t have been possible.

  10. #10 mehnaz (canada+iran) - January 25th, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    friend of someone here who kept pushing me too come here and after hearing this podcast I totally understand why…
    thank you for doing this
    some people dont realize that they are equally human too

  11. #11 Ben - January 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    potent and concise!.. really good to hear you Esra’a.

    Raising awareness will always be a struggle but you continue to be inspiring.. thank you..

  12. #12 Esra'a - January 28th, 2008 at 1:06 am

    Thanks a lot, Mehnaz and Ben.

  13. #13 Salama (Qatar) - January 28th, 2008 at 5:07 am

    I love you Esra’a. You’re incredible. :)

    Please email me back.

  14. #14 Muneeb (Saudi Arabia/Pakistan) - January 28th, 2008 at 6:21 am

    Please alert me if the link is no longer working.

    yup its only showing 166bytes from 3 browsers :(

  15. #15 Esra'a - January 28th, 2008 at 6:25 am

    It’s streaming audio unfortunately, not an MP3, so it might take a while to download on slower connections. It doesn’t work if you click this link?

    (Salama – thanks, I e-mailed you back.)

  16. #16 Muneeb (Saudi Arabia/Pakistan) - January 29th, 2008 at 6:04 am

    hmm its showing a .wax extension
    how big is the file? so I would know if I can DL it now

  17. #17 Esra'a - January 29th, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Hi Muneeb,

    I don’t think it’s possible to download it. Try accessing it using a different browser if you can…

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