Kuwaiti riot police use water cannons to disperse stateless protesters (AFP, Yasser al-Zayyat).

There are at least 120,000 Bidun jinsiyya (without nationality) in Kuwait today suffering from the lack of human rights. They cannot legally obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates. The same applies to driving licenses, identification cards, and passports. They do not have access to public education, health care, housing or employment. And while they face some of the state’s harshest discrimination policies, they have no recourse to the law and its courts. Simply stated, the Bidun, who are equal to about 10% of the Kuwaiti population, do not exist. They have been dehumanized and rendered invisible by government policies coupled with pervasive social stigmatization.

Last February and March, Hundreds of the stateless community in Kuwait protested demanding their rights of documentation, education, health care, employment, and naturalization. The protests were brutally dispersed by riot police and tens of young men were arrested for a week or so. Riot Police used water cannons, teargas, smoke bombs, and concussion grenades to disperse the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, over 30 people were injured and 120 were detained by state security in the first day of Bidun protests.

On the 12th of December, the stateless attempted to protest again to state their demands and to show support for those who were going on trials for protesting. Around 31 men were in court for ‘illegal protesting’ and were released as the judge decided to adjourn the case to the 23rd of January. Kuwaiti and stateless activists showed up to the court hearing to show support as the interior ministry refused to give permissions for any sit-ins. Kuwait Human Rights Association issued a statement condemning the trials and stating that the Kuwait constitution grants the rights to peaceful protesting and thus none should be prosecuted. Parliament members did not have a say in this and the only political bloc to have issued a statement in solidarity was the leftist Taqadomi movement. According to their lawyer Mousaed Al-Shammari, the 31 men might get 3 to 5 years jail sentences.

On the 14th, three other stateless men faced another trial for illegal protesting: Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli, Tariq Al-Otaibi, and Ridha Al-Fadhli. On Sunday the 18th, other 45 stateless men will face another trial and this time charged with violence against police men. The charges in the first two trials were submitted by the public prosecution, but in the coming trial, charges were submitted by the state security police. According to Kuwait Human Rights Association’s spokesman Taher Al-Baghli, state police did not charge the stateless for ‘illegal protesting’ only because such a charge will most probably be dismissed by the higher court.

Since the first trial started, the stateless community had several attempts to protest again. Activists tried to get permissions to protest in Erada square, in front of the parliament, where protests took place in the past two months against former prime minister Nasser Al-Mohammed which led to his resignation. The interior ministry refused to give such permission which made some of the stateless protest in their poorly-conditioned areas. The number was not large and protesters left in response to calls from some activists to avoid clashes.

This Friday, as reported by activists, tweeps, and news agencies, riot police used violence against stateless protesters and more than 20 men were arrested, among them two journalists who were later released (Fahad Al-Mayah and Hamad Al-Sharhan). According to a report by AFP: “Kuwaiti riot police used tear gas and water cannons on Friday to scatter hundreds of stateless protesters demanding citizenship. The police sought to break up a crowd of 400 people gathered after noon prayers in Jahra, raising Kuwaiti flags and banners that read: We demand Kuwaiti citizenship.” Stateless activist Mousaed Al-Shammari was reportedly arrested as he was trying to convince protesters to leave. Some wrote that he is now on hunger strike protesting his detention. According to a report by Reuters, there were also minors beaten and arrested in Friday protest.

Migrants in Libya face uncertain future:

A recent U.N. report estimates that over 7,000 prisoners remain detained in Libya. A substantial percentage of these men, women, and children are sub-Saharan African migrants caught up in the volatile transition of power. Accounts of arbitrary arrest and torture have been documented by human rights agencies throughout the revolution.
Read more.

Murder in Kuwait:

An Ethiopian maid was murdered by her employer on Tuesday. The man beat her for over a week because she allegedly refused to work, and her injuries were so severe that she suffered from internal bleeding. She collapsed after arguing with the man while he attempted to “return” her to the recruitment office.
Read more.

Lebanon: Suicide of an Ethiopian Domestic Worker in Tyr:

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, an Ethiopian worker, Janet M. K., hung herself today using a laundry rope from the ceiling of the house of her employer in Bazourieh in Tyr, South Lebanon.
Read more.

All Eyes on Rizana Nafeek:

Saudi Arabia is set to behead another migrant worker unless Sri Lanka can persuade authorities to grant Rizana Nafeek amnesty. Media outlets worldwide are monitoring the story closely as part of the mounting attention Saudi’s policies have received since the June execution of Ruyati Binti Sapubi.
Read more.

Indonesia reevaluates bans, Saudi Arabia & related policies:

The Philippine’s 41-country ban (and subsequent deferral) made a splash last week, sparking discourse among different government agencies, migrants, and activist organizations. Though critics deemed the measures superficial, the sheer number of countries blacklisted have invigorated demands for more action from other nations. The Indonesian government subsequently responded to queries regarding recent changes to its own migration policies; Commentators speculate that the five month moratorium on labor export seems to have been lifted following informal agreements between the two nations.
Read more here and here.

Trivializing Abuse:

Headlines involving domestic workers in the Gulf often fall into one of two categories: the horrifying or the ‘quirky.’ Reactions to the former – a maid raped, a woman tortured and enslaved – are instantaneous: absolute revulsion. But condemnation of the latter is less apparent, less certain. The absurdity of these stories – for example, an employer complaining about a maid using her cell phone – appears somewhat lighthearted. Wrong, but essentially harmless; perhaps the product of a “funny” law, another oddity of the intersection between the Gulf’s culture and legal system.
Read more.

Perceptions & Rights in Lebanon:

Recent events in Lebanon illustrate the importance of social perceptions to migrant rights. An anonymous Lebanese resident is tackling the disparaging conception of road cleaners; the designer by trade has posted signs throughout Lebanese streets asking citizens to respect the Sukleen street cleaners, most of whom are migrant workers.
Read more.

Murder of a Kuwaiti woman may have lasting effects on migrants:

The murder of a Kuwaiti bride by her Ethiopian maid may have reverberating consequences for the nation’s migrants. The Ministry of Health intends to introduce a set of psychological evaluations that prospective foreigner workers must pass before their work visas are approved, adding to the already extensive and expensive medical procedures migrants are required to take.
Read more.

“Workers Emirates”:

WIth his lens, Chancel captures the Gulf’s theoretical ‘underside’, the part so visible yet so often excluded from the glossy magazine features and brochures.
Read more.

Embassy Acts as Sanctuary for Absconding Citizens:

Kuwaiti authorities are receiving complaints about an unnamed African Embassy protecting citizens that have absconded from their employers. Absconding, which involves leaving an employer in some manner without their consent, is a criminal offense under the Kuwaiti sponsorship system.
Read more.

Family of a maid who died in Jordan demanding investigation:

The family of Subhani M Lurdu, a Sri Lankan maid who reportedly died on the 17th of October during her employment in Jordan, is requesting an investigation. They’re also requesting that her body is sent back to Sri Lanka.
Read more.

Suicide of Detained Migrant Prompts Investigation:

The suicide of an Indonesian maid in Kuwaiti custody is drawing questions about the conditions of her imprisonment.The woman hung herself with her scarf, her severed neck indicating that she had not been checked up on for days. Current accounts of the case are conflicting; one reports that security officials attempted to save the woman, while another raises accusations of the neglect.
Read more.

UN urges Lebanon to Protect Domestic Workers:

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on modern day slavery is urging Lebanon to address the plight of its domestic workers. Gulnara Shahinian recounted conditions of the migrants she met in Lebanon; sexual abuse, contract violations, unfair hours, and domestic servitude regularly punctuated their experiences.
Read more.

For ongoing updates, follow us on Twitter @MigrantRights or on Facebook.

The conception of maids as disposable units of labor sanctions their inhumane treatment. Murder itself may not be normalized, but the attitudes and “casual”abuses that escalate into such violent behavior do seem to be tolerated. The absence of legal protections for domestic workers positions them in an even more vulnerable position. The reports of violence towards domestic workers that resurface weekly demonstrate that this case involves much more than a single unscrupulous man; Just last week, a sponsor broke the nose of an Ethiopian maid. Three weeks earlier, an Indonesian maid committed suicide after absconding from an abusive employer.

The attention paid to these cases by Gulf media outlets is a significant step forward in acknowledging and ultimately correcting human rights abuses. The more these stories are featured, the more that the apathy and the unintended tolerance of these crimes are overpowered – and eventually, the less horrifying stories there exist to be told.

This article first appeared on our website Migrant Rights.

This compilation of reports are only from the past few weeks:

A Filipina domestic helper rendered blind by her sponsor in Kuwait after working without pay for a year [Source]

Herath Menika, a young Sri Lankan maid who worked in Bahrain, recounts the story of her abusive employers [Source]

An Indian man committed suicide in the house of his sponsor in Waha, Kuwait, while a housemaid attempts suicide [Source]

Abeline Baholiarisoa, a maid from Madagascar, forced to work as a “slave maid” for wealthy families in Lebanon for 15 years [Source]

Indian migrant workers harassed in Saudi Arabia [Source]

In Kuwait, more maids commit suicide [Source], while an Indian driver attempts to kill himself by slitting his wrists [Source]

A Filipino maid in her mid-30s attempts suicide in Kuwait [Source]

A housemaid raped in Kuwait [Source]

“Raped, battered, made pregnant, then kicked out: a common story for maids” (in the Middle East.) This story is about a Nepali maid in Saudi Arabia [Source]

Two men kidnapped and raped an Asian housemaid in Kuwait [Source]

Indonesian autopsy reveals violence killed maid in Saudi Arabia [Source]

Unspeakable cruelty: abused Ethiopian nanny found at Gadhafi compound [Source]

New ordeal for Indonesian who escaped Saudi sword [Source]

Kenyan woman working in Saudi Arabia seeks assistance to leave the country due to abusive employers [Source]

Kuwait: Asian ‘dies’ in sponsor’s home [Source] while another attempts suicide [Source]

Kenyans suffer in slavery in Saudi Arabia [Source]

Indonesian maid attempts suicide in Farwaniya, Kuwait [Source]

A murdered maid in the UAE was abused regularly [Source]

Nepali housemaid without pay for 3 months in Bahrain [Source]

Nepali worker commits suicide in the UAE [Source]

2 Emiratis, one of them a policeman, rape and then beat to death an Indonesian maid [Source]

Indian slave who was imprisoned for 3 years without pay was repatriated from Saudi Arabia [Source]

Bahrain: 2 Filipinos working for the Al Khalifa royal family have not been paid in 13 months [Source]

Indonesian migrant worker endured years of abuse [Source]

Indonesian maid attempts suicide in Al Baha, Saudi Arabia [Source]

Filipino maid found hanging in employers’ home in UAE [Source]

Video: Saudi man whipping a Bangladeshi garbage collector [Source]

Saudi Arabia: Indian maid injured while escaping her sponsors who locked her up and mistreated her [Source]

Oman: Unpaid migrants reduced to begging for food [Source]

30 Sri Lankan migrants go on a hunger strike in Iraq over months of unpaid wages [Source]

All of these cases took place very recently. Many might read these incidents once or twice a week, and could dismiss the abuse as infrequent. But these are just the cases that made it out to the media. If we continue to compile such lists day after day, you may safely consider this to be a mass crime approved by society and our governments, a crime with root causes that includes racism.

Of relevance, please read the following reports:

Kuwaiti Authorities Torture Migrant Workers to Death:

Two separate instances of Kuwaiti policemen and Ministry of Defense officials torturing migrant workers to death have surfaced in recent days.

Unfortunately, abuse of migrants by police are not unique in Kuwait. Recently, the Court of Appeals acquitted a policemen of torturing and raping two Filipinas. In April 2010 we’ve documented a previous case of kidnapping and raping of an Indonesian maid by a Kuwait police officer. In January 2010 a police officer in Kuwait admitted to raping women migrant workers for 15 years and then sending them off to the deportation center. On November 29, 2009 the Arab Times reported about the case of two maids who were kidnapped and gang-raped by a policemen and his friend and then sent to the deportation center. These reports illustrate how Kuwait state officials are able to abuse migrants with impunity. In these cases and many unreported ones the Kuwaiti police, which is supposed to protect abused workers, turns into another mechanism of oppression.

Read the full report here.

Every Two Days a Migrant Worker Attempts or Commits Suicide in Kuwait:

In a little over a month (35 days: February 19 – March 25), there have been 17 reported cases of migrant workers who committed or attempted to commit suicide in Kuwait. Local papers usually provide two sentences about each suicide in the “Crime” section, and their death is soon forgotten. Their nationality is sometimes mentioned, but names are not – it seems to interest no one. This harrowing trend is a reflection of poor working conditions, abuse from sponsors and the little protection migrant workers are offered in Kuwait.

Read the full report, with countless evidence of abuse, here.

Saudi “Justice”: Maid Torturer Acquitted

The horrific case of abuse of 23-year-old Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa by her Saudi sponsor once again illustrates the injustice inherent in Saudi Arabia’s justice system. In January, Sumiati’s woman employer was sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing, beating and burning Sumiati. However, this week, a Saudi court acquitted the woman of all charges.

Read the full report here.

The list goes on. And on.

Further coverage from around the web can be found here:

What does it take to end this nightmare that millions of migrant workers are experiencing in our neighborhoods right this second?

Previous reports by Migrant-Rights.org have exposed an alarming trend of suicides by migrant workers in Kuwait. In May 2010 alone, we documented 17 cases of suicide and attempted suicide by domestic workers in Kuwait. During April, 12 migrant workers attempted or succeeded in ending their lives in Kuwait. During March and the end of February, there were 13 reported cases of suicide and suicide attempt by migrants in the emirate. And during November of 2008 we’ve covered another 13 cases of suicide and attempted suicides by expatriate workers.

Most of the suicides and suicide attempts are committed by domestic workers, the most vulnerable of migrant workers since they are excluded from the protection of Kuwait’s labor laws, and because their work takes place in private residences. Migrant workers are driven to suicide because of their harsh living and working condition, which sometimes include physical abuse and non-payment of salaries.

Documentation

The first suicide attempt in the reporting period was recorded on August 1, when a 23-year-old Ethiopian maid attempted to kill herself by overdosing on pills in Hawali. She was found unconscious and rushed to the hospital in time. The next day, an Asian maid attempted suicide using the same method in Ahmadi. She was found unconscious by her sponsor and rushed to the hospital. The next day, August 3, a 30-year-old Indian man attempted to kill himself by slitting his throat in al-Wafra.

On August 6, an Indonesian maid threatened to jump from the second floor after getting into a fight with her sponsor. The authorities that arrived at the scene managed to talk her out of this. On August 8th, an Asian domestic worker was found dead in a pool of blood in his sponsor’s house in Oyoun, al-Jahra governorate after cutting himself with a blade. The same day, an Asian maid attempted suicide in her sponsor’s house in al-Qadisiya. She stabbed herself several times but survived the injuries.

On August 13, a Sri-Lankan maid threatened to kill herself by jumping off the second floor of a building in the area of Ardiya. The Kuwaiti police managed to talk her out of it. On August 18 it was reported that a 25-year-old Sri-Lankan maid attempted suicide by overdosing on pills in Hawali. She was taken to the Adan hospital in time. On August 22, an Asian maid was hospitalized after attempting suicide by jumping from the balcony of her employer’s apartment in Faheel. On August 25 a Nepalese shepherd ended his life inside a livestock pen in Kabad. On the same day, a 28-year-old Asian man committed suicide by hanging in Salmi. On August 30, a Bangladeshi man hung himself to death from the ceiling in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh.

On September 7, a 49-year-old Filipino maid killed herself by jumping from the fifth floor of a building in Faheel. On the same day, an Asian maid attempted to end her life by slitting her wrists. She was taken to the Intensive Care unit in Faranwiya hospital.

On September 14, a Nepali maid killed herself by hanging in her sponsor’s house in al-Zahr. On September 15, al-Jarida daily reported about two suicide attempts by maids in Kuwait. Interestingly, the report went a little beyond describing the place and method of suicide, and actually bothered to look into the cause of one of the suicide attempts. The paper stated that an Indonesian maid attempted suicide in al-Dahar after being “mistreated and beaten up” by her employers, according to her complaints, and that her last resort to end the abuse was suicide. The second case happened in al-Naeem where a 28-year-old Ethiopian maid attempted to kill herself. On the same day, a 64-year-old Indian migrant hung himself to death in his room in the Salmiya area.

After a heated argument with her sponsor, a Filipino maid attempted to kill herself by swallowing pesticide. She was taken to the Faranwiya hospital on September 17. On the next day, an Asian worker attempted suicide by slitting his wrists in Hawali. On the same day, a Nepalese maid (24) attempted suicide by swallowing detergent in her sponsor’s house in Kaifan. The al-Jarida report again goes beyond the cold details and adds that the cause of the attempt was financial difficulties back home. The maid received a letter from her family asking that she send more money, but her sponsor gave her less than the agreed upon salary, so the maid resorted to suicide after failing to secure the correct amount.

On September 20, two migrants died under suspicious circumstances. A 46-year-old Indian was found dead in a garage in Salmiya, and a 35-year-old Asian “fell” from a building in Abu Halifa.
On the next day, September 21, a Sri-Lankan maid (36) attempted to kill herself by swallowing pesticide. She was taken to the Jahra hospital for treatment. On the same day, an Asian maid attempted suicide in the Andalous area using the same method after a conflict with her employer. She was taken to Faranwiya hospital.

On September 26, an Asian domestic worker attempted to kill herself by swallowing pesticide in her sponsor’s house in the Sabah al-Nasser area. On the next day, a 40-year-old Indian maid attempted to end her life by overdosing on pills in her sponsor’s house in Sulaibiya. She was taken to the Faranwiya hospital and had her stomach washed.

All the reports do not bother reporting the names of the victim and only two report about the causes of suicide. At times the nationality of the victim is reported and age, and sometimes the victims are simply referred to as “Asian maid”. Attempting suicide is a crime in Kuwait, and all the reports mention that the police opened a file against the victim. Yet there has never been a case in Kuwait where a sponsor was tried for driving his worker to suicide.

The report originally appeared on Migrant-Rights.org, a project of MideastYouth.

Previous reports by Migrant-Rights.org have exposed an alarming trend of suicides by migrant workers in Kuwait. In May 2010 alone, we documented 17 cases of suicide and attempted suicide by domestic workers in Kuwait. During April, 12 migrant workers attempted or succeeded in ending their lives in Kuwait. During March and the end of February, there were 13 reported cases of suicide and suicide attempt by migrants in the emirate. And during November of 2008 we’ve covered another 13 cases of suicide and attempted suicides by expatriate workers.

On June 2, an Asian maid killed herself by swallowing detergent in her sponsor’s home in Waha, al-Jahra. On the same day, an unidentified woman attempted to kill herself by swallowing chemicals and was taken to the hospital where her stomach was washed. The fact that the paper did not bother identifying the woman indicates that she is a foreigner. On June 6 in was reported that an Asian woman jumped to her death from a residential building in al-Jahra. A day later, on June 7, it was reported that a Filipino maid threatened to kill herself after an argument with her sponsor’s wife in their home in Ardiya. The security forces that arrived at the scene managed to talk the maid out of taking her life.

On June 9, a Filipina maid ended her life by jumping from the fifth floor of her sponsor’s house in Hawali. Two days later, on June 11, a Filipina maid “fell” to her death from the fifth floor in her sponsor’s house in Mahboula.

On June 14, a Sri-Lankan domestic worker hanged himself to death from the ceiling in his sponsor’s home in Ferdous. A day later it was reported that a 26-year-old Ethiopian maid attempted to kill herself by swallowing poison. She was rushed to the hospital in time. The paper claimed that the maid suffered from psychological problems. The next day a 33-year-old Indian woman was rushed to the hospital after attempting to end her life by swallowing chemicals. On June 22, a 30-year-old Filipino housemaid attempted to kill herself by overdosing on pills. She was found unconscious and was rushed to the hospital in time.

The month of July began with a report on the 1st about the suicide of an Indian migrant in his apartment in Faranwiya. On July 3, an Asian domestic worker attempted to take her own life in her sponsor’s house in Naim-Jahara by drinking insecticide. A day later, on July 4, an Ethiopian maid hanged herself to death shortly after arriving to her sponsor’s house in al-Jahra.

On July 6, there were three reported cases of suicide by migrant workers. A 39-year-old Indian worker swallowed detergent and then sustained further severe injuries when falling from a building of a private university in Salmiya. The woman was rushed to the ICU in Mubarak al-Kabeer hospital. On the same day, al-Qabas daily reported about the suicide by hanging of an Asian worker in the office of a construction company he worked in, and the attempted suicide of an Ethiopian maid who swallowed insecticide in her sponsor’s house in Naim-Jahra.

On July 16, a Filipino maid in her 30s was hospitalized for attempting to kill herself by overdosing on drugs. Three days later, on July 19, an Indonesian maid suffered several fractures after attempting to end her life by jumping off the third floor of her sponsor’s home in the Sabah Al-Nasser area. The next day, a 35-year-old Asian man was taken to the Mubarak al-Kabeer hospital after slashing his right hand in an attempt to kill himself. Three days later, of July 22, it was reported that a 34-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid killed herself by jumping from the third floor of her sponsor’s house in the Abdullah Mubarak area.

On July 24, a 23-year-old Nepalese domestic worker ended her life by hanging in her sponsor’s house in Oyoun, al-Jahra. On the next day, a 30-year-old Nepalese maid hanged herself to death from a ceiling-fan in her sponsor’s house in al-Jahra (report in Arabic contains disturbing photograph, beware). On July 29, an Asian man hanged himself to death from a ceiling fan in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Once again, the report claims the victim suffered from psychological problems.

Reports about these miserable workers are pushed to the back pages of newspapers in Kuwait, and the Gulf region in general. The workers are nameless in their death as they are in their lives, with the papers not bothering to learn the name of the workers and sometimes even their age and nationality. Other than one report, no one in the Kuwaiti media tries to understand the reasons for this tragic phenomena. Reports suggest that the reason for suicides are psychological problems of the victims, without trying to understand what about the treatment of the sponsor leads these migrant workers to suicide en masse.

Domestic workers in Kuwait are excluded from the protection of its labor laws. A recent U.S. State Department report detailed the conditions many migrant workers are subjected to in Kuwait:

Although these migrants enter Kuwait voluntarily, upon arrival some are subjected to conditions of forced labor by their sponsors and labor agents, including through such practices as non-payment of wages, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement, such as the withholding of passports. Labor recruitment agencies and their subagents at the community level in South Asia may coerce or defraud workers into accepting work in Kuwait that turns out to be exploitative and, in some instances, constitutes involuntary servitude.

Given this type of treatment, many workers see no choice out of their desperate situation other than taking their lives.

Originally posted on Migrant-Rights.org

If you look at the varied political landscapes of the Middle East you will begin to see a whole host of hidden dangers lurking in the midst. The Mullahs in Iran, for example, have quite a lot on their plate: an angry citizenry demanding change, a weak economy, the onset of international sanctions, and the looming threat of a military attack. Iran’s answer is to pursue nuclear capability, to sponsor terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, and to forge new alliances with countries such as Turkey, Syria, and perhaps even Iraq. We may soon see an alliance of like-minded countries which have come together to project influence in the region, and to protect themselves from both domestic and international threats.

What will Western countries do in response? They will have no choice but to react. If left unchecked, a political alliance with Iran at its center could easily develop a nuclear capability, and use that as a means of stifling domestic and international dissent, and consolidating control of the entire region. A nuclear capacity will act as a protective shield to protect nations like Iran from any outside interference with regard to domestic policies and foreign policy agendas. The ability to discourage outside interference is precisely why Iran is so hell bent on producing nuclear weapons.

The West will have to react. Too much is at stake including access to oil, as well as the looming threat of a further radicalization of extremist groups. But what can the West do, short of war, to counter the threats posed by an alliance of the more fundamentalist elements in the Middle East?

The West will have to find a way to ally itself militarily and economically with the Sunni world, with countries that see an Iranian backed alliance as equally threatening to them. How can all of this be accomplished? My guess is that we will soon see a peace deal struck between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Fattah in the West Bank is a lot more worried about an Iranian backed Hamas takeover of the West Bank, than it is about Israel. In fact, Israel is probably the only military force in the region that can actually protect the West Bank from such a takeover. And Israel is a lot more worried about a nuclear Iran, allied with Syria and Turkey, than it is about the West Bank Palestinians, who seem fully committed to growing their economy, consolidating their security, and establishing a Palestinian state within the span of two years.

A peace deal struck between Israel and Palestine will reverberate across the region and around the world. New alliances will be forged, and a massive effort will be launched to revitalize the region as a whole, by consolidating security and growing the various economies. Saudi Arabia, for example, along with the other Sunni states, would likely use the Israel/Palestine deal as a pretext to recognize Israel in accordance with the Arab Peace Plan of 2002. Egypt and Jordan would likely join in, having already signed peace agreements with Israel, and also facing daunting challenges from within and without, including the possibility that a nuclear Iran could foment internal opposition throughout the Arab world.

And how would Western countries react to a realignment of this sort in the Middle East? The U.S. would probably continue to back Israel, especially as a peace deal is consummated, and would probably lend its support to a military/economic alliance which would counter the Iranian threat, and which would include Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and a great many other Arab states.

Will the realignment of the Middle East into two camps necessarily mean war? In my opinion, not necessarily. If a peace deal is forged between Israel and Palestine, and if such a deal is used as a springboard to revitalize the region economically, and if a military/economic alliance is forged between the Western world and much of the Sunni world, then such a result could actually stabilize the region. The Western/Sunni alliance could conceivably be much more powerful than the Iranian alliance, both in terms of military strength, and economic prosperity. As a result, Iran would have to think twice and maybe three times, before taking on such a powerful opponent. Under such circumstances, a certain sense of stability may ensue.

Eventually, if a Vision of Hope is realized in parts of the Middle East, a vision of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom, then countries which may have had no intention of following suit, would likely reconsider their approach in light of increasing domestic pressure. “Hey, where is our share?” the people on the street would ask. In other words, if the military option is no longer on the table, and if terrorism begin to lose its luster, and if there begins to emerge shining lights of success in the Middle East, then everyone in the region will be forced to follow suit, and jump onto the bandwagon of job creation, including: jobs which grow their economies, jobs which protect the environment, and jobs which help to weaken the hold of extremist thinking.

Granted, there are an awful lot of “ifs” in this scenario, and perhaps a healthy dose of wishful thinking to boot. And granted, people emboldened by an ideological agenda often make the wrong choices. But I would argue that there is at least a pretty good chance that things could work out this way. And given the dismal alternative—a mixed fruit salad of death, destruction, and despair—it is a chance we cannot afford to lose.

On May 5, an Ethiopian maid suffered severe injuries and fractures after jumping off the second floor from her sponsor’s house in the Abdullah Al-Mubarak area. On the next day, an unidentified security guard (a job generally performed by migrants) at an unknown university attempted suicide by slitting his right wrist. The man was taken to Amiri hospital for medical care. On May 8, a 23-year-old Ethiopian maid jumped out of her sponsor’s house on the second floor in Abu Hulaifa in an attempt to kill herself. The maid sustained several injuries and was taken to the hospital.

On May 14 three suicide attempts by migrant workers were recorded: an Egyptian men attempted to commit suicide by swallowing an unknown chemical. He was admitted to the Mubarak hospital in critical condition. Meanwhile, policemen in the Mubarak al-Kabeer area managed to stop a maid from committing suicide with a knife. On the same day a 25-year-old Filipino worker jumped off the second floor in her sponsor’s house in Fahaheel. The maid asked her sponsor to let her leave her job because she was mistreated by them and received a better job offer. However, the sponsor refused telling the maid that she knew that she’ll be working as a maid, and she should do her job without complaining. The night after the argument the maid left a suicide note and attempted to kill herself.

On May 19, a Nepalese maid (34) ended her life by hanging in her sponsor’s house in Umm Al-Haiman. On the same day, a 36-year-old domestic worker of unknown nationality attempted to kill herself by overdosing on drugs in her sponsor’s house in Rehab. On the next day, May 20, an 34-year-old Indian man committed suicide by hanging in his home in Old Khaitan. On the same day, an Indian woman (36) attempted suicide by setting herself on fire in Khaitan. On the next day, the Arab Times reported that a Sri-Lankan maid in her 40s suffered severe injuries and fractures after she jumped out of her employer’s home in an attempt to abscond. On the same day, a 36-year-old Indian man attempted to end his life by setting himself on fire in Sulaibiya. Still on that day an Asian maid was taken to the Jahra hospital after attempting suicide by setting herself on fire. Not a day later, on May 22, two maids ended their lives in Kuwait. A 30-year-old Indian maid hanged herself to death in her sponsor’s house in Adan, and a Nepalese housemaid committed suicide by hanging in her employer’s residence in Oyoun, Jahra. The next day, May 23, a Sri-Lankan woman (33) attempted suicide by slitting her wrists in her employer’s home in Mubarak al-Kabeer area.

On May 26, an Indian housemaid in her 30s suffered fractured after jumping from her sponsor’s house in Sabah Al-Salem. According to the newspaper report, she was attempting to abscond. On May 30, a Nepalese maid (24) slit her left wrist in her sponsor’s house in Rehab and was taken to the hospital. An Ethiopian man in his 30s hanged himself to death in a farm in Kabad on the same day.

As we’ve noted, domestic workers, the most vulnerable of migrant workers, are excluded from the protection of Kuwait labor laws. Kuwaiti papers, like most regional papers, mention suicides by workers in just a few sentences, never bothering to find out the names of the victims. The reports are hidden in the least-read pages and often hint that the cause of suicide was mental illness of the victim and not abuse she or he suffered at the hand of their sponsors.

Originally posted on Migrant-Rights.org

On April 4 in was reported that a Jordanian man (57) “fell” from the fourth floor of a building in an undisclosed location. On April 6, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi ended his life by hanging himself off a tree in Abu Halifa. On the next day an Asian maid jumped to her death from the 3rd floor of a building in Umm Al-Haiman, Kuwait. She suffered multiple fractures all over her body and died in the hospital. On the same day, an Asian maid attempted suicide in Hawalli by slitting her wrists. On the next day a 48-year-old Egyptian worker was admitted to the hospital after drinking insecticide in a bid to end his life in his sponsor’s farm in Abdally.

On April 12, an Indian shepherd killed himself by hanging outside his sponsor’s tent in Salmi. On the next day, a 39-year-old Indian worker “fell” from the roof of the Al-Sabah Cooperative Society and sustained numerous injuries. On the same day a Egyptian worker fell to his death in West Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. On the next day, an Asian man hanged himself to death in the Salmi labor camp.

On April 25, a Nepalese maid committed suicide in her sponsor’s house in the Qasser area. On the next day a 33-year-old Nepalese maid hung herself to death. The report claims that the maid had mental problems and that her salary was delayed only for two days. On the same day, a Sri Lankan man (22) attempted to end his life by drinking a cleaning liquid at the intersection of Abu Halifa Bridge and Al-Fahaheel Express Highway.

In April, several cases of torture, kidnapping, rape and forced prostitution of migrant domestic workers were also revealed in Kuwait.

On April 10, Arab Times reported about the kidnapping and rape of an Indonesian maid by a Kuwaiti policemen. On April 15, a housemaid reported her sponsor to the police for beating her after she refused to sleep with him. Three days after a Nepali domestic worker was kidnapped by a Bangladeshi driver and sold for 200 KD ($700) to a group of Asian men who forced her into the flesh trade, she was rescued by the police on April 18. The Bangladeshi man “specialized” in kidnapping and selling maids. He had previously kidnapped and caged six maids while forcing them to engage in prostitution. On the next day a Sri Lankan woman was kidnapped and raped by an unidentified man while walking down the street. On April 27, police arrested an Asian couple who’ve admitted to forcing six runaway maids into prostitution. The police is yet to arrest the six Kuwaitis involved in running the prostitution ring.

On April 26, a police officer visited the house of a Kuwaiti couple that confessed to torturing their maid, following a complaint she had filed with the police. Instead of arresting the couple and bringing them to the police station, the officer allowed the couple to follow him in their car to the police station. The couple choose to flee and switched off their phones. A few days prior to this exhibition of negligence, we reported about how Kuwaiti policemen stood idly by as a sponsor brutally beat his Indian worker.

Domestic workers, the most vulnerable of migrant workers, are excluded from the protection of Kuwait labor laws. Kuwaiti papers, like most regional papers, mention suicides by workers in just a few sentences, never bothering to find out the names of the victims, sometimes mentioning the nationality. The reports are hidden in the least-read pages and often hint that the cause of suicide was mental illness of the victim and not abuse she or he suffered at the hand of their sponsors. Migrant workers are nameless and faceless in their death just like they are in their lives here.

This post originally appeared on Migrant-Rights.org

The extensive 26-page report surveyed the conditions of domestic workers in Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain (as well as Malaysia and Singapore). The report remarked that the conditions of migrant domestic workers are gradually, albeit slowly, improving. However, domestic workers are still extremely vulnerable and under-protected in the Middle East.

The report details how migrant domestic workers can be subjected to exploitation by several actors, starting from recruitment agencies in their own countries and up to policemen in their country of destination if the approach to report abuse. As the report states “the failure to properly regulate paid domestic work facilitates egregious abuse and exploitation, and means domestic workers who encounter such abuse have few or no means for seeking redress.”

The vulnerability begins at home, where recruitment agencies often provide false information to migrant workers about their future conditions and pay. Those agencies usually demand a high fee for securing the work visa, forcing the future workers to go into debt. The burden of debt to the agency makes the domestic worker fearful about reporting abuse and possibly losing their job and being unable to repay the “loan” to the agency. Once a worker arrives to his county of destination, recruitment agencies sometimes substitute the contracts the woman signed back home with a new contract with poorer conditions. We have covered a case of such worker, Grace from the Philippines. She was promised a job in Qatar as an executive secretary for 700 QAR per month, but upon arrival she was informed that she’ll be taking care of a child, with no days off and for 600 QAR ($165) per month.

Domestic workers in the surveyed countries require a local sponsor, to whom their work visa is tied. The sponsorship creates dependency and vulnerability and makes exploitation much more likely. As the report remarked “As the immigration sponsor, the employer can typically have the domestic worker repatriated at will, provide or withhold consent on whether she can change jobs, and in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, obstruct her ability to leave the country. In practice, termination of employment often means the worker is obliged to leave the country immediately with no opportunity to seek redress for abuses or settlement of unpaid wages… Migrant domestic workers who leave their employment without their employer’s consent lose their legal status, making them subject to immigration penalties and deportation.”

We’ve previously reported how an unpaid Indian worker (read: slave) resorted to hiding in an airplane bathroom to be able to return home, after his abusive employer wouldn’t return his passport and give him permission to leave. Other employers, once their domestic workers muster up the courage to report the abuse, often counter-accuse the worker of committing crimes like theft of running away, and the police sometimes takes their side. We previously reported about a Sri Lankan maid who ended up in a Jordanian hospital after her employer beat her. When she complained, the employer accused the maid of theft and child abuse and the maid was arrested while still recovering from her injuries.

The invisibility of domestic workers in the homes of their sponsors to the outside world creates an increased risk of abuse, sexual harassment, food deprivation, and forced confinement. “In the worst cases, domestic workers may become trapped in situations of forced labor, trafficking, or slavery, or they die from murder, botched escape attempts, or suicide”, the report states. As we’ve documented, the high numbers of domestic workers taking their lives in Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is extremely worrisome and attests to the poor living and working conditions those housemaids have to endure.

The justice system in most Middle Eastern countries discriminates against migrant workers. As the report remarked, “Human Rights Watch has documented patterns in which the combination of poorly conducted investigations, lengthy trials, and weak enforcement of judgments combine to pressure victims of violence into accepting small financial settlements, a return ticket home, or nothing at all.” Last year we mentioned the case of an abused Sri Lankan maid who ran away from her Bahraini sponsor and approached the police, only to be returned to him. We also reported about the case of an Indian maid who was severely abused by her Bahraini sponsor who returned to India five months after the case was filed, and yet no charges was brought against her abusive sponsors.

Labor and Immigration Reforms

The report discusses the positive reforms in the labor and immigration laws made by regional governments. Unfortunately, other than in Jordan, regional governments do not include domestic workers under the protection of its labor laws. Other regional governments, like the UAE and Lebanon, introduced the standard employment contract, which regulates the domestic worker’s wages, but “falls short of providing the comprehensive protections provided under national labor laws”, the report noted. The contracts, which are also in use of private recruitment agencies in Saudi Arabia, do not give housemaids a weekly day off, it does not limit their working hours, and permits employers to forcibly keep their maids indoors. The reformed laws in Jordan still allows employers to hold their domestic worker’s passport and prohibit them from leaving the house, even on rest days. Changes in the sponsorship system in Kuwait and Bahrain excluded domestic workers.

Exposure to Racism and Sexism

The report notes that “Government officials, employers, and recruitment agents often make arguments against reform that reveal deep racial and gender stereotypes about migrant women and men, and the insecurities of wealthy elites that may feel physically and culturally threatened by large migrant populations but are also deeply dependent on them.” As we’ve shown, media reports in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE portray domestic workers as abusive sneaky witches, lazy liars and criminals. In addition to this “A second set of tensions around immigration reform center on sexual stereotypes and fears. Employers commonly describe their fear of migrant men or express stereotypes of migrant women as either sexually loose or as innocent and naïve in order to justify their practices of confining migrant domestic workers to the home and prohibiting them from taking a day off”, the report states.

The Human Rights Watch report paints a bleak picture about the rights of migrant domestic workers in the region. Despite the reforms, there is still a long way to go before domestic workers can arrive to the Middle East without fear of being abused, exploited, discriminated against and ignored by authorities.

This originally appeared on Migrant-Rights.org