Madagascar Repatriates Maids Abused In Lebanon
The Dehumanization of Maids in Lebanon
Maids In Kuwait Seek Refugee
Redux: Torture of Maids In Mideast
Maid In Lebanon
Foreign domestic workers continue to be grossly mistreated in the Middle East. They are often abused, tortured and many wind up dead at the hands of their abusive employers who probably treat their animals better than they do their maids. It has become so problematic that some countries are contemplating limiting the amount of maids allowed to work in the Middle East. Indonesia, in December 2010, decided that they would curb the amount of maids sent to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after several Indonesian maids were tortured in Saudi Arabia. The concern stems from the fact that unskilled workers (like domestics) are not protected in places like the UAE, unlike skilled and semi-skilled workers.
It is estimated there are more than 3 million domestic workers in the Middle East who are being mistreated by their employers, per a survey by Sayidaty, a Saudi Arabian magazine. The abuse can range anywhere from slave wages to no wages at all, to verbal abuse and physical torture.
It has gotten so bad in Lebanon, a country with one of the worst reputations for its treatment of maids, that the government of Madagascar has actually paid to bring back those workers who have had enough. According to the Prime Minister of Madagascar, Camille Vital, "There have been a lot of deaths. That's why the government has decided to repatriate those who wanted to come home. The government is paying for this repatriation."
When 17 citizens of your country have died at the hands of their employers in just a year's time, there is something terribly wrong. And you have to applaud the government for protecting its own. In fact, 86 women who chose to be repatriated before their contract ended, most of whom had "run away", were flown back to Madagascar on the government's dime. Apparently there have been at least 600 requests to leave, and 500 actually left in 2010 before their contract was over. And there are approximately 7,000 Madagascan maids working in Lebanon. One has to wonder how many more are being abused who have no way of contacting family or Madagascan Embassy officials.
And that's just the Madagascans. What about all the Filipinos, and Indonesians? Or The Africans and Asians? Any of the many poor souls who find themselves in Lebanon or any of the other Middle Eastern or Arab countries looking for a better life, only to wind up tortured or dead.
Source: Alarabiya
