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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A3AF747C-C12A-4ECE-8538-F08FA54F34EE.htm
More maids facing abuse in Gulf
Wednesday 17 August 2005, 20:18 Makka Time, 17:18 GMT
Even more common are complaints of nonpayment of wages
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They called her "stupid" They forced her to work impossible hours, giving foot
massages until 2 am then rising at six to make breakfast. And for half a year,
the Arab family that hired Lisa, a Filipina maid, paid her nothing.
"I couldn't take it anymore," said the 26-year-old, a tidy woman in flip-flops
who sought refuge last week in the Philippine Consulate in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates . "I ran away."
Lisa, who asked that her last name not be used, is one of more than 60 Filipina
housemaids living in a makeshift shelter at the consulate, taking refuge from
beatings, sexual harassment and unpaid wages.
Filipinas have been flooding into this fast-growing city to take maid's jobs
paying as little as US$160 a month.
But the influx has led to a doubling of those seeking shelter in recent weeks,
with as many as five runaways a day fleeing to the consulate, labour attache
Vicente Cabe said on Wednesday.
Lisa, like the others here, seeks counselling, help in getting back pay and a
plane ticket home. It could have been worse. Some runaway maids show up with
bruises or claim sexual assault. When they do, consular officials call police.
Indonesia responds
Already in the Emirates this year, three men have been jailed on allegations of
raping Filipina maids. With so many reports of abuse, Indonesia recently banned
unskilled women from working in the Gulf as house maids.
Philippine Consul-General Generoso Calonge said he wanted his government would
do the same.
"I couldn't take it anymore, I ran away"
Lisa, former maid in the Emirates, on her ill treatement by her employers
"We wish there were fewer, or none at all," Calonge said. "Some of these women
come here without a clue." Cabe estimated there are some 36,000 maids among
more than 200,000 Filipinos working in the expatriate-dominated Emirates.
The maids work for local Arabs as well as European and Asian families. Nearly 2
million Filipinos live and work in the Arab countries on the Gulf, he said.
Dubai influx
The increase in abuse cases stems from two sources: the burgeoning number of
maids arriving in Dubai, one of the world's fastest growing cities, and the
awareness that the consulate is a place to run, Calonge said.
The consulate is working with Dubai authorities to quickly return the women to
the Philippines. Dozens of runaways are stuck at the consulate -with 25
sleeping in one room- until Cabe or other diplomats are able to persuade
employers to pay back wages and buy them tickets home.
On Wednesday, two dozen of the women could be seen lunching together in a
sweltering garage. "We can't let the number keep growing," Cabe said.
Abuse of maids and other low-paid migrant workers has long been a problem in
wealthy Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates where foreigners dominate the work force.
Human rights groups
Last year, Human Rights Watch found Asian workers in Saudi Arabia faced
systematic abuse, with some in conditions the organization said were close to
slavery.
"It's in the culture here," said Fatima Caminan, a social worker at the
Philippine Consulate. "They see domestic workers as the lowest rung of
society."
In Kuwait, three policemen were sentenced in May to as many as 10 years in jail
for raping a Filipina maid who had fled her employer.
Even more common are the complaints of nonpayment from low-paid labourers from
the Indian subcontinent, the linchpin of the development that has quickly
modernized the Gulf.
Labourers protest
Many workers, mainly from Asia,
face exploitation in the Gulf
In April in Kuwait, some 700 Bangladeshi workers overpowered guards and
ransacked their embassy to protest unpaid salaries.
In Dubai in February, 1500 workers from Pakistan, Nepal and India blocked a
highway to draw attention to their plight: they had not been paid in more than
six months.
Protests are common among construction workers here, many of whom live in
crowded camps on the edge of the desert while they build the five-star hotels
that line Dubai's glittering skyline.
Runaway maids, too, have become a staple of local news reports. Sri Lanka,
Indonesia and Nepal are making it tougher for women to work in the Gulf because
their embassies are overwhelmed by reports of abuse.
Cabe said the Philippine government has begun discouraging maids and other
unskilled workers from migrating here. "Ninety percent of our problems involves
people in the unskilled category, mainly maids," he said.
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