Torture in [Bahrain] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Bahrain Street Children in [Bahrain] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Bahrain] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Bahrain.htm
Bahrain is a destination
country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor 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 formal sector laborers or
domestic workers. Some, however, face conditions of involuntary servitude
after arriving in Bahrain, such as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions
on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual
abuse. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009
[full
country report] |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Confronting the Taboo of Human Trafficking John Defterios, Khaleej Times Online, 13
March 2009 [accessed 20 January 2011] Forty-year-old
Suryavathi Rao fled the home of her employer that morning shoeless with only
a nightgown and bible to her name.
The years of domestic labour have taken their toll. She could easily pass for 60 if not a few years
older. After working 16 hours a day,
seven days a week for a year and a half, Suryavathi could not take it
anymore. She said through a
translator that her meagre salary of $108 a month had not been paid for six
months. She complained about not being
fed meals and surviving on the generosity of her neighbour another domestic
worker who pulled together leftovers to get by. Suryavathi could not get through three
sentences without breaking into tears.
As a result of her fleeing for protection, she has become a runaway
worker with no rights. Her employer
holds her passport. The best she can
hope for is to get the passport back and hope that the shelter can give her
enough money to buy a ticket and fly home to Southern India. It is not that simple of course, since back
home Suryavathi fears she won’t be welcomed back due to her “failure” to send
back money and keep a job. This is the life of
a forced labourer and the complex world of human trafficking. Technically, Suryavathi was not
trafficked. She had a sponsor agency
that she paid $1100 to back in India and is still charging here 5 per cent a
month interest on the balance. But she
certainly did not expect slave like conditions when she arrived. Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, Gulf News,
February 13, 2007 [accessed 20 January 2011] LACK OF LEGISLATION - Around 270,000
foreigners out of total population of 710,000 live in ***
ARCHIVES *** Human
Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61686.htm [accessed 20 January 2011] 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. Confronting the Taboo of Human Trafficking John Defterios, Khaleej Times Online, 13
March 2009 [accessed 20 January 2011] Forty-year-old
Suryavathi Rao fled the home of her employer that morning shoeless with only
a nightgown and bible to her name.
The years of domestic labour have taken their toll. She could easily pass for 60 if not a few
years older. After working 16 hours a
day, seven days a week for a year and a half, Suryavathi could not take it
anymore. She said through a translator
that her meagre salary of $108 a month had not been paid for six months. She complained about not being fed meals
and surviving on the generosity of her neighbour another domestic worker who
pulled together leftovers to get by.
Suryavathi could not get through three sentences without breaking into
tears. As a result of her fleeing for
protection, she has become a runaway worker with no rights. Her employer holds her passport. The best she can hope for is to get the
passport back and hope that the shelter can give her enough money to buy a
ticket and fly home to Southern India.
It is not that simple of course, since back home Suryavathi fears she
won’t be welcomed back due to her “failure” to send back money and keep a
job. This is the life of
a forced labourer and the complex world of human trafficking. Technically, Suryavathi was not
trafficked. She had a sponsor agency
that she paid $1100 to back in India and is still charging here 5 per cent a
month interest on the balance. But she
certainly did not expect slave like conditions when she arrived. Thai Sex Worker In Pattaya Daily News, 02/05/2007 www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/1210 [accessed 20 January 2011] 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 Rebecca Torr, Gulf Daily News, August 15th,
2007 [accessed 20 January 2011] A Human trafficking victims failing to turn
up Geoffrey bew, Gulf Daily News, August 08, 2007 www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=189949 [accessed 20 January 2011] Migrant workers'
rights activists say they are helpless when it comes to assisting victims of
human trafficking in "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 www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/413701?date=2011-04-15 [accessed 1 September 2011] Social development
minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi has rejected the idea of classifying Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, Gulf News,
February 13, 2007 [accessed 20 January 2011] LACK OF LEGISLATION - Around 270,000
foreigners out of total population of 710,000 live in Invisible victims of trafficking Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief, Gulf News,
November 3, 2006 gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/invisible-victims-of-trafficking-1.264267 [accessed 20 January 2011] "A significant
number of human beings, including women, are trafficked into 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." Reuters, Manama, Nov 1, 2006 www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/669 [accessed 20 January 2011] Huda said female
domestic workers, roughly 50,000 of 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. Human trafficking claimed Bahraini.TV, August 7, 2006 bahraini.tv/2006/08/07/human-trafficking-claimed/ [Last accessed 20 January 2011 – access is
now restricted] 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 Excerpts from an interview with Bahraini
women's rights activist Ghada Jamshir, Al-Arabiya TV, December 21, 2005 MEMRI.org, FrontPageMagazine.com, January
4, 2006 archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=6050 [accessed 20 January 2011] "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 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/bahrain [accessed 26 June 2012] Human Rights
Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/bahrain [accessed 20 January 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DS247.A13
P47 1994 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/bhtoc.html [accessed 20 January 2011] 2nd ID Seeks to Curb Lap Dancing at Clubs Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes, Pacific
Edition, Camp Red Cloud, www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,SS_012604_Lap,00.html [accessed 20 January 2011] 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. Arms Trade Victoria Garcia,
Analyst, Center for Defense Information, March 31, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] 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. Ansar Burney Trust Rescues Two More 'Child
Camel Jockeys' in UAE At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] 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. Agence France-Presse
AFP, 16 June 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] The State
Department in its report observed that 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. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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Torture in [Bahrain] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Bahrain Street Children in [Bahrain] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Bahrain] [other countries]