Human Trafficking in [Bahrain Street Children in [Bahrain] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Bahrain] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Kingdom of Bahrain [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Bahrain is a destination country
for men and women trafficked for the purposes of involuntary servitude and
commercial sexual exploitation. Men and women from India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and
Eritrea migrate voluntarily to Bahrain to work as laborers or domestic
servants. Some, however, face conditions of involuntary servitude such as
unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movements, non-payment of
wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. In addition, women from
Thailand, Morocco, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia are trafficked to Bahrain
for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. The Thai government
reported repatriating 368 Thai women who reported that they had been deceived
or forced into prostitution in Bahrain. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country
report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Bahrain
activists hope for better protection of workers' rights LACK OF LEGISLATION - Around 270,000 foreigners out of total population of
710,000 live in Bahrain, whose economy depends heavily on them. But the lack
of comprehensive legislation on foreign workers, mainly from Asia, who come
to Bahrain to work as domestic servants and in the construction industry
often means that they have to put up with physical abuse, sexual harassment,
non-payment or delay in payment of salary and long hours of work. "We want to use the workshop to
increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the issue of exploitative labour and labour trafficking. ***
ARCHIVES *** Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 SECTION 6 WORKER RIGHTS – [c] Unskilled foreign workers can become indentured servants and often lacked the knowledge to exercise their legal right to change employment. In numerous instances, employers withheld salaries from their foreign workers for months and even for years, and refused to grant them the necessary permission to leave the country. The government and the courts generally worked to rectify abuses if they were brought to their attention, but they otherwise focused little attention on the problem. The fear of deportation or employer retaliation prevented many foreign workers from making complaints to the authorities. Labor laws do not apply to domestic servants. There were numerous credible reports that domestic servants, especially women, were forced to work 12‑ or 16‑hour days, given little time off, were malnourished, and were subjected to verbal and physical abuse, including sexual molestation and rape. Between 30 to 40 percent of the attempted suicide cases handled by the government's psychiatric hospitals were foreign maids. It was estimated that there were 50,000 foreign housemaids working in the country who are predominantly of Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Indian, Bangladeshi and Filipino origins. During the year, there were several incidents of seriously abused housemaids reported in the press. Housemaids who have no embassy representation in the country (Indonesian and Sri Lankan) are often subject to the worst types of physical and sexual abuse. With no diplomatic mission to protect them and no established victim assistance shelter, runaway housemaids have often been returned by untrained police to abusing employers. Thai Sex Worker In Bahrain Seeks To Extricate Friends Caught In Catch 22 Situation Uoom told the reporter "I want to
warn other women. If you were convinced by someone who promised you a
well-paid job in Bahrain, don't trust them. They will tell you of a
dream-like city, but what you'll face is like a hell.” Cyber
sex sites spur vice probe A Bahrain human rights group has
launched an investigation to unmask the perpetrators behind more than 35
websites offering sex to customers here and in other Gulf countries. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) president Mohammed Al Maskati
said they were concerned about women who were being brought here on promises
of lawful employment only to find themselves victims of sexual
exploitation. He said women from
Europe, Middle East and Asia were being advertised for sex through more than
35 Arabic and English websites. Human
trafficking victims failing to turn up Migrant workers' rights activists
say they are helpless when it comes to assisting victims of human trafficking
in Bahrain to benefit from the government's general amnesty. Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) action committee head Marietta Dias said women
being held against their will and controlled by others are likely to have
little chance of making it to the relevant authorities. "Human trafficking victims
are of concern to us, but what can we do?" she told the GDN. "We have
no idea where these people are being held or whether they have come here on
their own free will. "We hope
that these people can somehow take advantage of the amnesty, but how we get
to the victims is the main thing."
Her comments come after Thai Embassy officials said the fear of arrest
was preventing many of its people from taking part in the amnesty. No
Human-Trafficking Problem in Bahrain Social development minister Dr
Fatima Al Balooshi has rejected the idea of
classifying Bahrain as a country suffering from the problem of human
trafficking. Human-trafficking is a
global trend that many countries, including developed ones, suffer from, she
said in a statement to Bahraini daily Akhbar Al Khaleej. She said her ministry had taken all legal measures
against the problem and has created a social protection network to avoid it.
Some of the steps taken are the setting up of Dar Al Aman
For the protection and shelter of abused women, the setting up the Bahrain
Child Protection Centre, the introduction of an anti-begging law and the
opening a centre to shelter beggars, she said. Bahrain
activists hope for better protection of workers' rights LACK OF LEGISLATION - Around 270,000 foreigners out of total population of
710,000 live in Bahrain, whose economy depends heavily on them. But the lack
of comprehensive legislation on foreign workers, mainly from Asia, who come
to Bahrain to work as domestic servants and in the construction industry
often means that they have to put up with physical abuse, sexual harassment,
non-payment or delay in payment of salary and long hours of work. "We want to use the workshop to
increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the issue of exploitative labour and labour trafficking. Invisible
victims of trafficking "A significant number of
human beings, including women, are trafficked into Bahrain. Unfortunately,
their plight seems to remain unknown to significant parts of Bahraini
society, perhaps because the victims tend to be foreign nationals or are
considered to be of low social status," Sigma Huda,
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, has said. The Bangladesh-born lawyer said:
"Bahrain's victims of trafficking are often invisible victims because
they suffer in places that remain hidden to the public eye, such as private
homes, hotel rooms or labour camps." Gulf states urged to fight human trafficking Huda said female domestic workers,
roughly 50,000 of Bahrain's 300,000 migrant workers, were especially
disadvantaged. Some are lured into degrading jobs by recruiting agents with false
promises of decent work conditions. Huda described complaints of 14 to
16-hour working days, imprisonment in the home, the confiscation of
passports, deprivation from contacting home countries, withholding pay, or
being forced to steal food or eat scraps through lack of meals. "Physical abuse is also a
problem. Some victims told me of incidents of severe and traumatic abuse
including mental and verbal abuse," she said, adding that widely held
racist and sexist attitudes contributed to the prevalence of trafficking. A probe into alleged human
trafficking may be launched in relation to last week’s Gudaibiya
labour camp blaze, in which 16 workers were killed.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty
has asked the Bahrain Foreign Ministry to investigate what he alleges were
violations of international laws against human trafficking. Islamic
Clerics Authorize Sex With Infants "The point is not to have
opposition from abroad. The point is for them to live and be protected in a
safe country. If a woman cannot get any protection in her country, cannot get
any protection from the courts, cannot get any protection in the marital home
- where will she go? Where will she go?" "All her life, the woman is a
prisoner in her own home. In the past, she would not go out to work, or to
study abroad. Very few women would go to university outside Bahrain. She is
at home in order to cook, sweep, and raise the children. How will she get an
education? There are women whose families are extremist. They even force them
to marry against their will. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study 2nd
ID Seeks to Curb Lap Dancing at Clubs The crime often involves women
duped into moving to a foreign country, then forced to become sex workers
there. Greer said he learned about human trafficking after meeting his
Philippine wife when she was working in a South Korean nightclub. "When I was dating my wife, I
found out her sister in Bahrain hadn't been paid in 10 months. She was
working 16 hours a day, six days a week. Through many e-mails and telephone
calls we took this guy to court and he had to pay her and return her to the
Philippines," he said. BACKGROUND - Although the government has
worked to advance human rights and improve citizens’ ability to change their
government through more democratic means, the U.S. Department of State notes
several problems in the human rights area. While the Constitution calls
for an independent judiciary, courts are often subject to government pressure
and security forces are rarely tried for abusing their power. The
government limits the freedom of speech and of the press; freedoms of
assembly and association; and freedom of movement. Violence and
discrimination against women is common, as is discrimination based on
religion and ethnicity. Forced labor and human trafficking are also problems. Trafficking
and forced labour of children in the United Arab
Emirates continues ANSAR BURNEY TRUST RESCUES TWO MORE 'CHILD
CAMEL JOCKEYS' IN UAE
- The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International is
the only human rights organisation working since
last several years practically against slave labour
in Middle East and Arab Countries to rescue the innocent children working as
child camel jockeys in very worst circumstances. It has rescued total 318
children in this current year, 147 children on slave in UAE and 171 children
from Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia,
Muscat, Kuwait and other parts of the Arab and Middle East countries and sent
them back to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Srilanka and
other respective countries for their rehabilitation. Dhaka
blacklisted for human trafficking The State Department in its report
observed that Bangladesh is a country of origin and transit for women and
children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary
domestic servitude, and debt bondage. An estimated 10-20,000 women and
girls are trafficked annually to India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Bahrain Street Children in [Bahrain] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Bahrain] [other countries]