the competition from other poor nations, notably the Philippines

Seems like we should be just as concerned if the maids who are getting abused are Philipina. Maybe if these home countries get together they won't seem quite as tiny appealing to powerful Saudi Arabia.

Sigh. Of course, American pressure would probably help more than most things, but how likely is that given our massive consumption of petroleum?

The problem here is Saudi Arabia's barbaric and inhumane treatment of foreigners. These Saudis treat foreign workers like slaves and nobody objects.

The world needs to come together to strongly condemn barbaric Saudi culture and force Saudi Arabia to quickly start regulating the working conditions of foreigners in Saudi Arabia.

I doubt this will happen. Our elites are terrified of being called racists or imperalists. So they ignore situations like this.

I can't believe that after such abuse, which seems widespread, people would still be willing to try their luck. What crushing powerty must it be so as to prepare one to take on one's luck so!

The story of abuses and lack of human rights for foreigners are not new in the prosperous Arab world. Unfortunately, until their oil comes to an end, these are unlikely to cease. I mean, never mind foreginers, all their citizens don't have the exact same rights. Add to it impoverished 'supplier' nations, as well as a nuvo-rich society that has not evolved in step with time, and you have the receipe for this story here.

My second post - I just read through the horrific, terrible, heartrending account of this continuously unfolding societal and personal tragedy. A must read if you have the guts for it.

What's worse, Sri Lanka's government is fully complicitous, ever mindful of the huge amount of money that comes home from these maids. But what a home does it come to - displaced children, broken fathers/husbands/brothers, shattered society. The government even is at hand to receive the incoming maids, carrying them off to recovery centers so they can mend a bit so as to lessen the shock on their family. And it goes on... and on...

Whatever I read bothers me.
What can I do?
Do you think there is something 'I' could do?

Is is sad to see that none of the obvious causes for the abuse are lifted. As others have pointed out, it is indeed true that such abuse of fellow humans can occur elsewehere. The high incidence of such events in the arab world is mainly because of their barbaric and primitive views of women that are only reinforced by their religion. This is not some rant fueled by blind prejudice. Statistical analysis reveals the highly endemic nature of female abuse in muslim households. Inflexible religions fade with time or spawn more tolerant flavors because they are not economically and socially sustainable. However, the presence of oil has allowed arabs to step into the twentieth century without the need for adaptation. Governmental policies ensure that arab children can remain profoundly uneducated and still live off the fruits of immigrant labor. They own businesses simply because they are born arabs, not because they are competent by any means. They are given money to give birth to more uneducated arabs. The remaining poor and disillusioned are manipulated by the religious fanatics, again funded by petrodollars. This state of affairs will not change any time soon and impotent governments like ours have no incentive to propel the change.
It is a relic of a culture that will perish once it is take of its life support, the developed world's thirst for oil.

Saudi Arabian culture is probably one of the most vile cultures that I have ever come across (all cultures has vile elements)
The racism, xenophobia, bigotry, sexism in that society is second to none.

It's not even the famous Saudi contempt for us kufrs driving this. They are equally willing to abuse their Muslim co-religionists from Indonesia and Bangladesh (as well as some of the Filipinos). They haven't progressed far from their early days of raiding ("razzia"), plundering, slaughter, and enslavement. They've just got richer.

hey...did you read this week's india abroad?

Is it the business of the United States to be concerned about the safety of foreign nationals who work in the Middle East? Absolutely not. The respective countries should protest.

On the other hand, if such maltreatment was meted out to US Citizens, there would be hell to pay. That's why you never hear things like this happening to US citizens.

I don't understand this irrational prejudice and contempt towards all things Islamic. Islam seems to be fueling militancy all over the world only because of the recent media scrutiny that biases its coverage. Violence occurs in cycles and is not specific to any religion; the ullster movmement, the basque nationalist insurgency, the african genocides, the colombian guerilla movement, the chinese anti-democracy purges.
As for violence against women, that is the sad outcome of the the abuse of physical asymmetries and the misinterpretation of the Quran. I still maintain that women and men are fundamentally different and the Quran is
right in arguing obliquely for the male control of governance. Research has shown women to be more emotional and intutive then men. This is a gift in certain aspects but a detriment when applied to situations that require logical analysis. Men excel in fields like science and sports because of their inability to acknowledge the triviality of the pursuit of excellence in their chosen area. A misconceived macroeconomic view of greater good through personal excellence is imbued in the male consciousness. Women, whom god has chosen to nurture life, realize this pursuit to be irrelevant. Their view is microeconomic, they choose to change the world one step at a time starting with their own children. Technological advances are ultimately futile, serving only to extend our lifespan so that we continue to run the rat race at an increasingly higher speed.

Men excel in fields like science and sports because of their inability to acknowledge the triviality of the pursuit of excellence in their chosen area... Women, whom god has chosen to nurture life, realize this pursuit to be irrelevant.

This is paternalist fiction. There's nothing trivial about earning your own income-- it's the key to independence.

Is it the business of the United States to be concerned about the safety of foreign nationals who work in the Middle East? Absolutely not. The respective countries should protest.

On the other hand, if such maltreatment was meted out to US Citizens, there would be hell to pay. That's why you never hear things like this happening to US citizens.

it's the job of every nation to ensure human rights are respected worldwide, stupid ideas about jurisdiction and sovereign responsibility are irrelevant

and sort of related, there was this story recently in New Jersey

fixed link: click

Research has shown women to be more emotional and intutive then men

You may be wrong wrong.

Superior female intuition is a myth, according to a scientific study. An Internet test into the truthfulness of a person's face has revealed that if anything men are better than women when it comes to spotting when something is wrong.

More than 15 000 members of the public have taken part in the online experiment since it began.

I'm quite put off by the hypocrisy expressed in most of the comments on this board. To say that there is something "inherent" in Islamic "culture" (whatever that means and who is defining that) that results in the treatment of these women is ridiculous and its obvious that the comments on this board come from people who have been fed on an geographically stumped American media diet which thinks Saudi Arabia is the only country in the middle east.

The abuse of maids is endemic to all Gulf countries - Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Qatar, Oman...Although I barely hear any stories from the last two countries. Although most of this abuse is dished out in Arab households, there are plenty of South Asian households in the Gulf where employers see beating as an acceptable way to punish a maid.
I think a number of factors lead to this awful treatment of maids, a major one being the bizarre racial/national stratifications that have developed thanks to kinds of economies in place in the Gulf, many of which are the legacies of British rule in the region.
There are a number of myths and stereotypes that circulate about maids depending on the country they come from - Philipino maids, for example, are seen as manipulative, untrustworthy and active seductresses who want to marry their way out of their class background. Bangladeshi maids are characterized (thanks to their fellow South Asians) as thieves and liars and these stereotypes get more detailed even across states in India - i.e... maids from Karnataka are good, maids from Mangalore are bad...e.t.c.
The one characteristic they are all seen to share is their sexual deviance, promiscuity and lack of "morals".... Think about why they are portrayed as such... particularly in economies that where women did not traditionally have any role in waged labour. There are classic clashes here between gender ideologies and gendered labour, combined with orientalist notions of these women. Additionally, it is the conception and expectations of masculinity in Arab countries rather than of femininity and the scapegoating of South Asians by the monarchy as the cause of massive unemployment e.t..c that in some way explain the violence for me... Rationalizing rape is an almost impossible thing to do (Sarvarkar did a great job of making the rape of Muslim women seem "virtuous" while writing Six Epochs and we're still seeing Uma Bharti and other rabid Hindutvadis drawing on his rationale) and there have to be more complex reasons and not essentialist explanations for why this takes place and how we should address it.
As I've said in previous posts, expat communities have their hands tied because of exclusive citizenship policies which mean we all get deported and lose our existing livelihoods if we try and organize against these detestable violations of women's bodies.
I'm glad the issue is getting some attention now but its a question of political and economic evolutions in the gulf not "cultural" changes that will enable standing up against such atrocities.

SMers have written to radio stations before - why not to your own congressperson (especially those in the India Caucaus), good taxpayers and voters.

Appalling story.

Oh, goodness, ignore the spelling, please :)

Research has shown women to be more emotional and intutive then men. This is a gift in certain aspects but a detriment when applied to situations that require logical analysis. Men excel in fields like science and sports because of their inability to acknowledge the triviality of the pursuit of excellence in their chosen area. A misconceived macroeconomic view of greater good through personal excellence is imbued in the male consciousness. Women, whom god has chosen to nurture life, realize this pursuit to be irrelevant. Their view is microeconomic, they choose to change the world one step at a time starting with their own children.

I see we have our very own Lawrence Summers in the house.

Let me give you two examples of technological advances that refute your statements.

The first is the discovery of
penicillin, which today is still THE most widely used antibiotic. You or your loved ones have no doubt benefited from this discovery, in the absence of which you could have died from a bacterial infection. You may argue that your staying alive is futile and that you “continue to run the rat race at an increasingly higher speed”, but there are those of us who feel otherwise about our loved ones and will continue our efforts to advance technology.

My second example is the
“discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”.
To summarize, Dr. Gertrude Elion, a female scientist, was one of the trio who were awarded the Nobel prize for this discovery. Dr. Elion’s particular contribution led to development of drugs that are used even today to treat leukemia, gout, organ rejection after transplants and certain bacterial infections. The underlying principle behind the discovery is even more useful: bacteria, viruses and cancer cells use different metabolic pathways than normal human cells to survive and thrive, and this difference can be manipulated to develop drugs that kill infections and cancers without harming healthy cells.

Dr. Elion could not have made this discovery by simply being “emotional and intuitive”, or with a “microeconomic [choice]… to change the world one step at a time starting with...[her] own children”, because she never had children.

This is why some of us consider technological advances NOT to be futile, and why some women are extremely qualified and very excited to be scientists, “logical analysis” and all.

I don't want to take away from the discussion of female foreign worker abuse, but to not respond to a post like THIS?!

I think most people haven't responded to Naveed's post because it's obviously sentimental pish, girl scientist. Back to the topic at hand: BB, I can understand why it's desirable to avoid wholesale condemnations of Arab culture, but blaming the deplorable treatment of foreign maids solely on the policies of the long-departed British seems disingenuous to me. The ferocity of the violence meted out to these women suggests that economics isn't the sole cause.

I don't understand this irrational prejudice and contempt towards all things Islamic.

Here's your argument :

Contempt of Islam ==> Contempt of Women

My emotional unscientific mind (do forgive me, I am female) is unable to comprehend the extremely rational argument put forth by this gentleman

The maid abuse is because human beings enjoy power and abusing the weaker species. I don't see how being fudamentally different explains anything. You have to hide the fact that you are a Buddhist or a Hindu just to work there. Shows what a bunch of intolerant folks we are dealing with. Perhaps the religion isn't vile, but surely the people who follow it are.

The Gulf culture is different from the larger Arab culture.
The Gulfies constitute less than 20% of the Arab population.

The Indian government should make a temporary ban on allowing it's citizens to go there until the governments of those countries agree to follow certain guidelines and rules with their expat workers.

Excellent idea, and not unprecedented. India used to limit access to South Africa during apartheid days.

vurdlife,
Pakistan already has that law in place for Pakistani women who go to these countries as maids.

Naveed,
Talking about crimes perpetrated by Muslims is sexy these days. So talking about crimes on women in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan is sexy. That is why you wont see New York Times posting articles about Hindu honor killings in Uttar Pradesh which might arguably be comparable in numbers to all the honor killings that happen in Pakistan.
On a side note, your point about the differences between men and women is asinine at best. In your Jihad to prove the supremacy of the Quran/hadeeth and the Islamic system, you have chosen to regurgitate age old nonsense about women being more intiutive etc.,

"Amba :BB, I can understand why it's desirable to avoid wholesale condemnations of Arab culture, but blaming the deplorable treatment of foreign maids solely on the policies of the long-departed British seems disingenuous to me. The ferocity of the violence meted out to these women suggests that economics isn't the sole cause."

I never said economics was the sole cause nor am I blaming it on the British. My family has been in the Gulf since the 1930's and living in Bahrain, I've realized that a confluence of material conditions such as the composition of the rapidly changing labour force, the threat this poses to masculinity and contemporary revivals of historically racist, gendered notions in the Mid East and the Sub-continent among other factors force people to see themselves and others in specific ways.
The "ferocity of the violence" actually does call for a deeper probing of why men in the Gulf
commit such violent acts and not as you suggest looking to arab culture as an explanation despite that being undesirable.
I hardly see any middle-class Arab women (who actually commit equally violent acts against their maids for the most part) running around with the marks of a violent beating or rape so obviously race/nationality is an issue in ways that no one understands yet. And please resist positing American models of understanding racial conflict on a region where it is not applicable.

And another thing... Economics and migration patterns are extremely relevant. What really annoys me is when I hear wealthy, landed South Asian Americans here saying "It's their choice to go and work in those countries" so why are you complaining when I talk about what goes in the Mid-East. Why do so many SriLankan maids end up in the Gulf? Has anyone ever read up on the deplorable rates of alcoholism that lead to poor Srilankan men throwing hard earned money away and forcing their wives to become practically slaves in the Gulf? The awful economic situation in the sub-continent itself doesn't really leave much "choice" for any of the workers coming to the Gulf. They're fcuked either way - starve or take the risk of working in the gulf to put food on the table, send kids and other relatives to school.... It's a larger problem of forced dependence..one that is changing both societies - arab and those in the sub-continent in dramatic ways which many are violently reacting to.

oops, i meant they (the wealthy SA americans or wealthy SA in the Gulf) would ask me why I was complaining whenever i brought this issue up.

Pakistan does not allow Pakistani women to go to the Gulf countries to work as maids.
Other countries can adopt similar laws if they want to but have chosen not to for some reason. Once all 3rd world countries stop sending their women to the Gulf states to work as maids, the Gulf goverments would be forced to make changes.

There's one problem with that, vurdlife: where's their money going to come from? The maids need money. They make higher sums in the middle east than they would in their own countries. Yes, being beaten isn't part of the deal, but what pressure can we possibly apply? Will pressure ensure that it doesn't happen again? In fact, most expats have largely uneventful times in the gulf.

bb, I'm sorry, but I just don't understand what you're getting at. On one hand, you seem to think that Gulf/Arab culture is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, yet at the same time you yourself invoke ideologies of gender and class: don't such ideologies arise out of some pre-existing cultural matrix? Bringing in a bunch of fashionable theoretical jargon doesn't do much to clarify the issue.

Recently in Saudi Arabia 40 Pakistani Christians were arrested, imprisoned and probably tortured for practising their religion in a prvate home. The level of intolerance of other faiths is phenomenal in that country. Incidently, the Pakistani government did nothing to protest about the treatment of its citizens, and there was no objection by the Pakistani people or media in general to this incident, which is just the tip of an extremely ugly and intolerant iceberg. I suppose Pakistan is in a mental state of servitude to Saudi Arabia.

More about Sri Lankan maids in the middle east here (written by Sam Husseini --- an arab american on a visit to Jordan). An excerpt :

We were sitting down to watch a video of a baby cousin of mine's birthday party. My mom noted that that all the mothers shown in the video brought their "Shankias"-- their maids from Sri Lanka -- to the birthday party.

An incredible number of upper-middle class households in Jordan have a maid from Sri Lanka.

So I turned to the relative seated next to me, Faris, a fellow of about 30 and asked why all the maids are from Sri Lanka. Why not hire people from Jordan? -- though perhaps I should have asked why they had maids at all.

He explained that "Even if you could hire a Jordanian from east Amman [the poorer part of town] for the same price -- she has a brother, a father, a husband maybe. They may make trouble." With a wink he added, "If it's a Sri Lankan, you have her passport." Meaning the employer thus had incredible power over the maid and could even kick her out of the country if they wanted. (A female friend later suggested that what he meant was that Sri Lankan maids are regularly raped.)

"Sri Lankans don't speak Arabic. What about language?" I asked.

He patiently explained: "Orders are easy to understand-- do this, do that-- there's really no need for dialogue."

I let it sit.

There's more.

He explained that "Even if you could hire a Jordanian from east Amman [the poorer part of town] for the same price -- she has a brother, a father, a husband maybe. They may make trouble." With a wink he added, "If it's a Sri Lankan, you have her passport." Meaning the employer thus had incredible power over the maid and could even kick her out of the country if they wanted. (A female friend later suggested that what he meant was that Sri Lankan maids are regularly raped.)

This is slavery.

In fact, most expats have largely uneventful times in the gulf.

The Counterpunch article doesn't seem to support this proposition (with regard to Sri Lankan maids anyway). Economic opportunity is one thing, but no country should allow its citizen to sell themselves to indentured servitude.

I'm sick of these savages mistreating our people because they think they're better than us. Remember the post about the secret and wrongful execution of the poor desi worker? Arab culture is so backwards that it's just ridiculous... and calling Sri Lanka "the country of housemaids"? What gives them the right to be so condescending? Think about it, most wealthy Arabs got their fortunes by being born on oil (in other words, they did NOTHING).

Arabs complain about their portrayal in the west, yet they aren't above treating people of other races like crap. SHAME on them! With shit like this always happening, any negative coverage of the Arab world is well-deserved.

The Saudis are barbarians. They not only treat foreign maids like dirt, they treat foreigners (non arab) pretty horribly, both muslim and non-muslim. They are by far the worst in the gulf nations in this regard. For example, the mutta'wa has the authority to enter non-muslim households and punish the members if they are found worshipping their religion (i.e if they have any idols etc). I have heard of cases of Indians who have been beaten and punished because they had an idol of their god in their house.

It says a lot that some here are equating attacking saudis for their behaviour towards women == attacking Islam. I guess such people can be ignored.

It says a lot that some here are equating attacking saudis for their behaviour towards women == attacking Islam.

Any reason why you went with the == and not the =? Because the single = would make it true while the == is conditional?

Ahh...only on sepia mutiny.

the hating on s.a. aside, i'm wondering what on earth india can do about this problem. obviously, indians wouldn't leave in the first place if there were jobs and opportunities in india for them. instead of focusing on keeping indians safe in the middle east, maybe the focus should be keeping indians safe in india. is that even a possibility? or with a billion+ people, is spilling over just bound to happen? sometimes when i think about the logistics of attempting to solve these problems in india i become so disheartened. in a country so over-populated, so economically diverse, and so riddled with corrupt government officials, i don't know what the future holds.

I'd be hesitant about drawing too broad conclusions about the arab world or arab culture from these articles.

1. It is unclear how the prevalence of abuse of maids in the middle-east compares with that in india. I have heard of cases of rape and grotesque violence perpetrated by employers against their employees in India. (I heard about one employer who literally boiled his employee alive because that employee had raped a co-worker. Also, wasn't their a story, from a couple of years ago, about an Indian landlord in Berkeley who was involved in the mistreatment of maids that he brought from India?) But my impression is that this is the exception rather than the rule in India. And, similarly, Rahul's impression that most expats are treated decently might well be true.

2. About comparing cultures: Warped notions of caste and class and color-of-skin are sadly all too prevalant in India today. Surely you can find Indians who think of their employees in the condescending terms that the Jordanian in the Counterpunch article speaks of Sri Lankans. And out of Arab culture did come an extremely egalitarian religion - Islam.

3. If in fact employers in india treat their employees better than in the middle-east, I think democracy and the education of people about their rights has much to do with it. Not too long ago in Kerala, Dalits were treated unbelievably poorly. For eg. Dalits were forbidden from letting their shadow fall on a person of a 'higher-caste', and Dalit women were forbidden from covering their breasts. I don't think that happens in Kerala today and I think we should thank democracy and the communists for that.

He knew he'd been caught. He varied between being defensive, "Iím not a racist" -- most Sri Lankans have skin color darker than most Jordanians
Its always comes down to the damn skin color. From clubs in Hong Kong to matrimonial ads in India its always about the color.
I wonder when will white privilege end.

It*

Vurdlife: I disagree. Make living at home hard for them and then take away any chance of making money overseas harder? I don't know why countries need to get involved at such a personal level. Protecting your citizens is one thing, but influencing what they do for a living is quite another.

Protecting your citizens is one thing, but influencing what they do for a living is quite another.
In this case, Rahul, it's the same thing. These people are trying, with the best of intentions, to work for a living abroad, but since they are treated as second-class citizens, virtually as slaves, isn't it time the goverment protect them?

People in Sri Lanka have known about this for a long time. I left in 1989, and I remember even back then, the press reported stories of families receiving headless bodies. (I think the idea was that identification would be harder that way.)

The sad truth is that people are willing to try anything for a better life. A way to earn some money. And they cannot believe that sadistic treatment like this is meted out without cause. They convice themselves that those women did something to annoy their employers. And Sri Lankan culture is such that obedience and respect for authority is all, especially for women. And the sadder truth is that the goverment is too addicted to the income generated by workers sending money back to jeapordize its relationship with these Middle East countries.

The article got one thing wrong - 'dukkha' means sadness. But, yeah, there's a hell of a lot of suffering as well. Shit, this is miserable.

Oh this isnt a new thing happening there. Indians and to a less degree Pakistanis (lesser probably because they are Muslim) are treated like total garbage in the Middle East. Ask any desi living in the Middle East how it is for them. Do you know they arent allowed in certain clubs and arent allowed to own property. Even in the Modern Dubai its hellish for them. I talked a Indian friend out of working in Dubai. Thank god he listened to me. The Minister for NRI affairs I read in India abroad wants to help these people who need the help much more than we Indians in the western world do.

Oh yea, there are plenty of newspaper classifieds requesting job applicants to be "ONLY US/UK/AUS citizens"...and they MEAN Caucasians. I wonder why being Caucasian is so highly regarded in the Middle East, many Caucasians think Arabs are fundamentalists and future bombers anyway, so why the preference for them while our people get treated so shabbily. I pray for all the Indians out in the Middle East..how sad really!!

there are a lot of complicated issues on top and under the simple issue of abuse and exploitation, and some SM commentors have offered smart complex analyses while some have been grotesquely asinine.

with that said, i have had a few conversations with saudis on this topic (in the USA). usually it was prompted by them, once they found out i was of bangladeshi origin, they would talk about how "clean" bangladeshis were compared to "dirty" filipinos/sri lankans/etc. i am pretty sure it had less to do with cleanliness than standard muslim prejudices against non-muslims. but in any case, i got the following impression:

religion matters. if you had to choose between being a dark-skinned sri lankan buddhist or hindu and a dark-skinned sri lankan muslim (or bangladeshi or mopilla from kerala), you would choose being a muslim, especially in saudi arabia. legal recourse and support is near nil for a lot of these women, but being a non-muslim drops the probabilities even further. i strongly received the implication that filipino christian women were particularly notable targets for sexual molestation (one dude talked to me about forcing himself on filipino maids in a lurid fashion).

race is also an issue. color prejudice exists in the arab world, and slavery has until recently been associated with blackness (or south asianness).

history matters. slavery wasn't abolished in saudi arabia until 1960! many of the older individuals who employ maidservants might remember the years of slavery and just transfer their habits from saudi slaves to foreign workers.

Razib, thanks for pointing out specific examples, giving the more "asinine" commentors more credibility. By the way, the South Asian man who was wrongly executed in Saudi Arabia was a Muslim, so this is more likely about race than religion.

Slavery abolished in 1960? Wow, the media needs to cut the politically correct bullshit and expose modern day Arab society for what it is.

Arab society for what it is

well, i would add that non-gulf/arabian arabs often object to be associated with the oil arabs. i have a good friend who is of palestinian arab origin, and that community has been treated rather shabbility by the oil arabs as well. egyptians, syrians and jordanians are also often treated badly by the oil arabs. now, granted that non-oil-arabs are often given higher status than non-arabs, but the 200 million arabs display a lot of diversity in mores and tendencies. it is important to note that colloquial arab dialects are nearly unintelligible (as opposed to the cairo arabic in the media or the classical arabic of the koran).

i think that south asians often dislike generalizations based on one group (ie; race relations in england between a white-brown conflict due to tensions between muslims and the white british, while sikhs and hindus are relatively assimilated), so we should be cautious about doing the same to others.

Do Arabs tend to be as discriminative on the basis of skin color as Indians? Is light skin color associated with high status and valued?

I've noticed on television that many of Iraq's elite tend to be very light skinned and often look "white," but the poorer people on the streets are quite dark and look more Arabic. Similar to how India's affluent urban residents look quite different from poor laborers in the villages.

I've noticed on television that many of Iraq's elite tend to be very light skinned and often look "white," but the poorer people on the streets are quite dark and look more Arabic. Similar to how India's affluent urban residents look quite different from poor laborers in the villages.

who says that being dark looks more "arabic." in any case, i don't think arabs are as extreme or explicit as south asians (though the north indian skin color terminology, if not origin, did arise during the mughal period when central and west asian muslims wanted to distinguish themselves from "black" converts). but that being said, lower class arabs will often be darker skinned because the reality was that slaves were generally imported from black africa, and to a lesser extent (but not trivial in southern iraq, especially and around basra) southern asia.

That is why you wont see New York Times posting articles about Hindu honor killings in Uttar Pradesh which might arguably be comparable in numbers to all the honor killings that happen in Pakistan.

Well, AM, the Indian media is pretty vigilant about such stuff. If it were as ubiquitous as you suggest, believe me there's be a lot of media attention focused there. Honestly, any comparison of *current* Indian culture to current Arab culture is just bizarre and disingenuous.

Honestly, any comparison of *current* Indian culture to current Arab culture is just bizarre and disingenuous.

i tend to agree with you as far as facts go for a variety of reasons...but i don't think the comparison is necessarily facile if you constrain your comparison to UP and bihar (and on some issues the punjab), for example. ie; sex-selective abortions and gender survival imbalances do suggest a "patriarchal" culture in northern india. the main reason that arab culture doesn't tend to have the same problems is that polygyny is anthropologically strongly correlated with bride-price, so the birth of females can be monetized and recoupled (monogamous stratified societies tend to practice dowery because families have to comptete for high status males since they can't take more than one wife).

of course, i think the difference (which you point to) is that northern india has a decent media and modern elite which acts as a watchdog and "witnesses" against these practices. the arab world (aside from top-down exceptions like, believe it or not, libya, or the absolute monarchy of morocco) doesn't seem to express the same elite-disapproval.

Looks like Sri Lankan maids(mainly Tamils) get exploited by everyone. I have seen stories on Malayalam channels how Keralites lure these women with a promise of wedding to ditch them later.

You all realize that this happens in the US too, right? Admittedly probably on a different scale and generally different in degree, but it's still horrifying.

I used to work for Andolan, which has a lot of members that were former domestic workers. Check out this excerpt from a NY Sun article linked from Andolan's website:

An Indian maid, confined to an Upper East Side apartment building for four years, claims her employer confiscated her passport, forced her to work 14-hour days, and raped her.

Now,four years after she says she stole back her passport and fled the apartment,her court case is coming to a head. A Manhattan judge is expected to decide soon whether her employer, a highranking minister at the Kuwaiti mission to the United Nations who denies the accusations,will be granted diplomatic immunity or face civil charges.

IR,
Pakistan is not the Arab world.

Forget Islam, differences between men and women, etc. A former resident of Kuwait, I can assure you that "mistresses" and non-Muslims there are equally complicit in maid abuse.

The point is that some third-world workers are severely abused but their families and governments expect them to work there for the cash. As long as there is money to be had, NOTHING will happen to rectify this situation.

Such maltreatment would never be meted out to US Citizens, not because there would be hell to pay, but because peninsular Arabs suck up to the white man. We need their oil/gas, they need our business.

When this back-scratching agreement is in place, we will not question the social policies of any Arabian country. As P.J. O'Rourke says, "Wherever there's injustice, oppression, and suffering, America will show up six months late and bomb the country next to where it's happening." Examples abound.

Again, as long as there is money to be had, NOTHING will happen to correct the real wrong.

Dear cicatrix: it can be hard, I know. I lived in the middle east for 21 years and was one of the lucky ones, but I did know what happened to many others there. We knew however well-off we were, we were all still second-class citizens. But I also know that many people took it in their stride because their main aim was to make money to send home.

I wonder why this incident was so shocking. If it happened in India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka, what would our reaction be? Would it be as active as this?

And if things were better at home, would they still need to go abroad as maids?

India and Sri Lanka will have to take Pakistan's good example and just quit sending maids over there.

Maid abuse in the Gulf is awful. And I'm not one to support the racist societies of the Gulf.

But self-congratulations here is stupid. It's not an arab problem. The rich Indians, Pakistanis, Brits, Frenchmen all have maids. My family, when we lived in the Gulf, had a Sri Lankan maid. We confiscated her passport. One night, she snuck into the bedroom, took it back, and (in the parlance of the Gulf) 'escaped'. No, not on the underground railroad.

I've seen maid abuse in India and in Egypt -- probably occurs everywhere men have power of women who have no options.

The problem in the Gulf is that there are no crusading leftist who champion for social justice. And the vulnerable live under the threat of deportation.

One would like these victims advocates to arise in the local population. But there's no reason that they couldn't come about among the middle class south asian population of the Gulf. Who writes the Gulf News and the Khaleej Times? Why don't they do crusading journalism. Mohandas Gandhi was able to fight discrimination under more difficult circumstances in South Africa a hundred years ago.

This passport confiscation practice gives me the willies. Besides this Middle Eastern issue, lower-priced European hotels tend to do it instead of taking an impression of your credit card.

Thank you Ikram for saying succinctly what I've been trying to emphasise all along. Although, I don't understand how those working for Khaleej, gulf news or the GDN can do anything if they're under the threat of deportation.

Well the people in the big news papers use something called self-censorship. Having lived in the Gulf I can tell you that no journalist is stupid enough to write something that will show the city/country in a bad light. They will be fired and the editor will take out the negative bits from the story. Once in a while a story will pop up but there is not follow thru and there is certainly no investigative journalism there. Most of the newspapers just paste reuters and AP clippings together to form their papers. Not to mention the fact these are countries where if you convert to Islam while in jail you might be pardoned or your term will be shortened. Its a ridiculous system, they will do anything to push people to Islam all the while they go London on vacation and do the most unIslamic things. Forget London, anyone who has been in Bur Dubai past 9PM will see some very unIslamic things there on the street.

Aryan: I agree. I used to work for the Bahrain Tribune and the "news" is simply AP, Reuters stuff downloaded from the satellite with some words changed around, for example, not referring to palestinians as "terrorists". The rest of it is all propaganda. I remember a few months ago when this human rights activist Al-Khawaja spoke out against the corruption of the Prime Minister of Bahrain at a forum, he was prompty arrested. The interesting though was for the next week, the front page of the GDN was all propaganda, i'm sure demanded by the Prime Minister. Article after article talking about how much he'd done for the country and appeals to "national unity" instead of fractitious questioning of the monarchy. But on the other hand, the same newspaper has a columnist, an English guy who regularly critiques the abuse of workers, Bahrainization policies in the labour force that leave expats jobless, and other such economic policies that are selfishly constructed to benefit the ruling minority in the country, to quieten dissent of the locals through false promises of reform and cash handouts e.t.c.
The columnist does not outrightly challenge those behind many of these oppressions and the language is subtle and sometimes ass-kissing to make up for the critique so he's able to get away with things. Since he's a British citizen he's immune to govt. action because his govt. would throw the biggest shitfit.

bb exactly. Same thing in Dubai, as long as you are White you are quite safe. If you are not White, well then you better have money otherwise the condequences aren't pretty. The law is certainly not blind in those countries. In the end it is their own society that will suffer for it. As long as negative news isn't published there won't be any self improvement in thos socities. You can't fix everything with money!! Once the oil runs out a lot of these countries are in trouble. Take the issue of why they need to import people to drive the taxis and be waiters etc!?!? It is a simple fact the Gulf Arabs consider it beneath them to do certain jobs, this includes being in the Army in many cases. A lot of the people in the police and the army are just Iranians, Pakistanis etc. What sort of person considers it beneath him to be a low ranking Pvt in his own army? You are protecting your own country but its beneath you b/c you dont want to take orders from someone from a different tribe. Well it really isnt their country in the first place is it? It is SAUDI ARABIA, Al Saud first, Arab second. These guys are headed for a disaster, I am telling you one thing, the grand children of the very same labourers will be a lot smarter and better off than the guys who lord over their maids right now.

ASR wrote:

These guys are headed for a disaster, I am telling you one thing, the grand children of the very same labourers will be a lot smarter and better off than the guys who lord over their maids right now

That's the attitude I don't like. We've all got stories. (A schoolmate of mine had her parents killed by a reckless 14 year old local with a new Mercedes.) But I don't recall the Saudi Pakistan Association making a stink over ill-treatment. Or the overfed Dubai desis discussing the plight of the illiterate labourer at their evening parties at the Hilton.

BB is right that journalists can only do so much without getting fired themselves. But the rich could show some solidarity with poorer co-nationals. Short of changing government policy, you can at least change your own attitude. Or try paying your maid a little more per month than you spend for a meal at Le Meridien. Perhaps things have changed in the past decade, but in social conversation don't recall the Desi oil executives, British government advisors, American defense contractors or anyone else making two peeps about labour conditions.

What I do recall is some rich desis treating poor ones like disgusting animals, and avoid them lest some of their stink stick.

Don't get me wrong. The Gulf is a fabulous place. But to the extent there's something rotten there, the stink sticks to all of us.

The fact is that people who have lived or do live there too can lose their job if they raise a fuss. I for one alway treated the servants very well, that is why some of them have been with my family longer than I have (they started work before I was born). Again it differs from person to person how they treat their helpers. The expats dont have any rights, it is the locals who do but they arent bother to raise a fuss about this. At most you can expect them to whine in the cafes about how the poor Palestinians are being treated thousands of miles away, while they kick their own foriegn helpers around.

It is inexcusable that people treat their servants like this. The fact is that poor treatment of any human being is bad enough, but poor treatment (rape etc) just b/c they are helpless and of different colour, religion etc is the worst sort of crime.

The Arabs do love white skin. They really fell for the Turks when they came accross them, they even hired the Turks to do the fighting for them, ofcourse a few decades down the line the Turks began to lord over Arabs and began to treat them like undermenschen much like the Arabs treated the people they conquered. There are some fundamental inbuilt flaws in the Gulf Arab socieites that aren't the fault of the expats, at worst the expats pick it up and continue with it. This flaw will only build up till it leads to bad results down the line.

Ikram, whenever i bring it up in conversation I get yelled at or given those "It's their choice, we can't do anything about it" nonsense. The same classist crap where rich Indians go on and on about they worked hard and made it up in the world, so why can't the other desis who make up the working and underclass do the same. On the other hand, i know of a factory where the owner is Indian and his workers are the highest paid in Bahrain compared to other factories. Their residences are also the most decent. However, they rarely get to go home often not seeing their families for years because of the shortage of desi workers now. Meaning, the govt is enforcing strict punitive measures on employers who don't have a certain quota of Bahrainis and limit the number of visas employers get to bring workers from India. But the bahraini men that get hired are lazy youth who for the most part (not all of them) sit around doing nothing because they know they can get away with it. So in cold terms, productivity goes down and the rest of the crew that is indian and extremely hard-working get screwed because they lose more freedom when they are expected to compensate for the lazy half of the work team... My point was.. .yes, there are little things that privileged desis can do- higher income, human and decent living conditions but its not good enough....there needs to be a campaign that works from outside first to threaten the veracity of the "modern" image these Gulf states are desperately trying to cultivate.

Precisely bb. These states love to show themselves off as modern and enlightened when the truth is not quite that. The only way they will change is outside pressure exposes their skeletons b/c they themselves don't see the need to first work hard for themselves, and secondly treat the hard working desis decently.

This will never happen IMO b/c as long as these guys have oil no one is going to irratate them too much. And the fact that I doubt too many people care about the poor labourers, it comes up and everyone says "how terrible" and then go on with their lives.

Ikram said, "But self-congratulations here is stupid. It's not an arab problem. The rich Indians, Pakistanis, Brits, Frenchmen all have maids. My family, when we lived in the Gulf, had a Sri Lankan maid. We confiscated her passport. One night, she snuck into the bedroom, took it back, and (in the parlance of the Gulf) 'escaped'. No, not on the underground railroad."

May I ask why your family confiscated her passport? What is meant by "confiscated" - "stole"?
Why not ask the maids for a photo copy of their passports instead? Why is it neccessary to have the actual passport of the maid in hand?

I live in the UAE my neighbor had a Srilankan woman working for him since he is a pilot.
This woman turned his house to a hoer house. One day I was up working on my laptop I heard a noise, I was surprised when I looked out my balcony to see police men when they saw me they asked me if I saw the maid.
An hour later they of investigating they found 2 woman and a man who jumped to my
villa and then jumped to the neighbor. I wont tell how horrified my neighbor (Indian) was
when the police found them in her back yard.

In regard to the passport. Why take the maid passport .These maids run away to work on the streets. They get lured by the promise of a lot of money and because they are afraid from the police they find themselves working for these people and they cant run away from them.

UAE is a great place with great people , please remember a maid from the Philippines
makes close to 13000 pesoses a month which is equivalent in her country to a chief police with more then
15 years of experince in addition to she do not pay for room furnished food clothing even her personal stuff soap shampoo Kleenex toilet paper etc…
I was told that the maid in Philippines get 800 pesoses which mean her stay in UAE is equivalent to about how many years little math will tell you that her 2 years in the UAE 13000 x24=312.000 /12= 26
26 years of her life .WOW you still wonder why they flock here.
Let me tell it is the same reason why most Europeans, North Americans companies and people come here. We are all here because of that we can make more money have better life styles .
Ask the people who lived here and went back home and are looking for a job.

Saudi Arabia has a pecking order. Among guest infidels, the non-Muslim menial servants are probably the lowliest, although in the late '70s and early '80s, the Yemenis were quite lowly as well. They used to be called "refrigerators with legs" because they were only employed in back-breaking work like moving heavy stuff.

Sally I have lived in the UAE as well. While all what you have said is true, the fact remains that the sort of packages that the sevants get is quite poor. They dont get too much time off and most of their money is used to support family back home. They need some entertainment time etc as well. In order to get some more money they are forced to do all sorts of things.

Case in point, I used to know someone who worked as a bar tender & waiter in a very good 5 star hotel. In the West that job is not the highest but it keeps you off the streets. A good bar tender will acctually make some decent money in London. This bar tender though had to whore herself to pay her bills. Why? Because the hotels dont pay much at all, they do that to keep their profit margins high and in order to keep their costs low so that European tourists can come and stay there. In the end this is just a little better than slavery.

These immigrants have no chance to lodge complaints, they have no or little rights (its all on paper but never in reality), they will never get citizenship b/c they are either not Arab or not Muslim. These states love to show themselves off as modern etc but there is much that is rotten under the gleaming tall buildings of Shiekh Zayed Road and Dubai Marina. Most workers are usually worked till they develop mental or physical problems, they are then shipped back to where they came from and new batch is bought in.

Hi there,
Asr,I read what u wrote,However I like you to know that bar tender/waiter are provided with a place to live.

There a bus that will take them from there place of work to their resident paid for by the employer part of the contract.
The employer has no choice he must provide resident or give cash equivalent(This is the law of the Land?)In addition he also
provide them with breaks an hour for there Lunch they also must have a day of
rest some opt. for a day and a half or two days.
I have talked to alot of these people who work in stores or as maids.
I have found them very happy if there are a few that is having hard time they
should complain there are depatments to help them in the government.
Again if they do not like working in the
Gulf and they feel that they are not treating them fair simply do not apply to work there.
I found it ridiculous that I pay a maid
the amount she will earn in 26 years in 2 years.
Provide her with a room with a washroom
(ensuite)food and cloth her Cosmetics and Toileteries fridge, electriccattle, Tv .
and since most go off for summer she ends up getting 2 month of summer free
she get christmas week, Easter,and her birthday off.And all school vacations off.
Tell me how is that abuse.
Do not talk about the few talk about the few talk about the majority.
I also talked to the maintaince (villa) people,they get tips which double there salary which is 1200 dhs in addition to
accommodation.
All the people I know treat the maids the same. Maids have their quarters here.
I think the problem is most of the people who come to the Gulf never had maids in their homes and do not know the
law of the land.
So they hire illegal maids full or part time they will make stories to make you
feel sorry for them this way they get paid extra people who had maids all their life will be able to tell based on their experince with maids when they are not telling all.
I asked my maid a Philipina why do you lie? She said you can't survive at home if you don't lie to get out of trouble.(she lies all the time for no reason) I am trying to teach her to say I made a mistake I am sorry.
If I learned that I will be an honest
person and that will limit my chances of success.

LOl,What can you say to that? well I will keep trying I bought her some books
to teach her the value of honesty.

People who work in these gulf contries are expats not immigrants meaning they are on contract when the contract is done they go home.
They are not a citizen of the gulf contries.
Now you can own a property or a business
and stay in the country.

They have rules that we might not agree with however it protects their interest.

In the end I would like to say if they think it is so bad they should stay in their countries or try migrate to the west.
However not everybody who comes to the gulf can qualify to migrate to the west,
because they too have rules about who can live in their country.

In the end I would like to say if they think it is so bad they should stay in their countries

Do gulf countries have any interest in improving the lives of their immigrants? I hope everyone doesn't share your attitude. Pretty damn backward.

Provide her with a room with a washroom (ensuite)food and cloth her Cosmetics and Toileteries fridge, electriccattle, Tv .

Yup them Hindoos sure love their electric cattle!

Moooooo.....

As mentioned above, it's not only Sri Lankan domestics who can be abused in the Arab States (as well as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan). There are Indians, Bangladeshis, Philippinos, Chinese, and others who endure indignities. And it's true that an abusive employer can be a non-Arab (and that includes westerners). BUT most of the time the abuse is by Arab families who look down on "Hindis, Bakistanis, Philippinos."
Foreign maids can be assaulted physically or mentally. They are denied food, wages, or days off. They may not be even allowed to leave the house at all. The Embassies of these women shelter the 'run aways' who are stuck in a room since they don't have the money or their passports to return to their countries (another reason why it's unfair for employers to keep passports and why a maid will sneak out her travel docs. in the middle of the night). It's usually up to the expats to take the initiative and volunteer to raise funds or provide free health care for cuts, bruises, & burns. If these women step outside the shelter, they are likely to be arrested on the employer's orders for breaking their contract or accused of a fake charge like theft or poisoning the employers' kids (I'm taking these examples from local newspaper reports). If the cops get hold of them, that's not necessarily a good thing. The maids are held in jail pending deportation. They can be held indefinitely and subject to anything...
The problem is that the Embassies and their Govts. don't fully protect their citizens abroad. The Philippines and Sri Lankan Govts. have tried to ensure 'paper' protection for maids and labourers but it is not enforced. The Indians seem unwilling to stick their necks out and embitter diplomatic relations.
SALLY May 22:
You mention the prostitution incident. Yes, that is bad and that sort of betrayal of the employer also sucks. But living in the U.A.E. you must be aware that there are prostitution 'centres' in which maids are also forced into by their employers. It's not always the maid's voluntary choice or her desire to make a quick buck.
SALLY July 16:
"I found it ridiculous that I pay a maid the amount she will earn in 26 years in 2 years, Provide her with a room with a washroom ... Tell me how that is abuse."
Why does it bother you that you're paying your Philippina fair wages? Do you feel bad that you've missed a deal by not giving her what she would make in the 3rd World? Surely, you can make up for it through your tax free salary? Or if you're lucky, perhaps your employer provides you with a maid's allowance? In some Western States, it is the law to provide a bedroom with a bed.
So don't begrudge your worker, comrade (lol!). And I hope that you don't excessively shout or even smack your worker when she does something 'wrong.'
For that would be abuse.

I hope this is relevent. In the book, "Arabian Nightmare", Richard Arnot says that it is standard practice for the employer to keep his employee's passport. And Remember, Richard was a doctor and his pakistani employer took his passport as well, even though he was british.

Dear Mutiny, In this wicked system and amoung these lunatics that we had to live with, I can see that you are triying to say something, a good massege to all of us. You may blessed and have enough encourage to gain your purpose. God be with you

I have lived in the U.A.E for several years and I should say the treatment depends on how good their employer is.Some famillies treat the maids well,while the others very harshly.Besides the locals in the U.A.E and other arabs in general thinks they are superior to south asins because most of the south asian do odd jobs such as cleaning the bins,driving taxis and etc.Besides infront of us they sometimes make fun of the indian accsent because they think their acsent is superio to us. The other point is the laws in those countries treat people according to religion and race.For example the locals are given the highest prioroty and they have the right to do whatever they want and nobody(foreigner) could take actions against them.Then it is the other arab muslims such as joradnians,plastenians,syrians and other arab muslims who lives there given the second piority.then the next piority is given to the non-arab muslims.Then if you are a non arab and non muslim laws of these gulf countries doesnt protect you at all.I wonder when theses attidues will change?

Richard Arnot says that it is standard practice for the employer to keep his employee's passport.

Just two weeks back I met a Sw. professional Desi at a freind's place, who had worked in the Mid-East. He said that they took his and his family members passport as soon as he started the job. I couldnt believe it.

The Dubai rulers wants to show to the world that it is a midernised state with pointless projects like palm island,Burj al-arab,40 story buildings and etc.So in a way they are developed in terms of buildings,well planed roads and such things but in terms of humanity,workers rights,democratic rights and more importantly religous tolerence and acceptence of other cultures Duabi,saudi and other gulf arab states are way behind.Rulers and Loclas in Dubai and other gulf states shouldnt forget that it is the south asians who have worked so hard (despite the shabby treatments they are receving at the hands of locals) to develop thier countries to the prest state.Thereor they must not deport forien workers in a flash for the sake of emiratisation,Bahrainization plocies.Besides the locals over there has no qualification(not all) and I wonder how they survive when all expat workers are asked to leave.

my fiancee left Philippines to work in Bahrain in October.She was in constant touch with me.After a week she said she was working for a Saudi,wife American,from Texas.She was alright. Then I had a phonecall saying that her employer had slapped her round the face for nothing. She said she would write to me but I have had no contact since November 15th.All my text messages went unanswered until 6th January when I received "Anna no longer works for us so this not her phone". I am quite worried and have contacted Embassy and await further details. I don't know which agency she used or her address in Bahrain.Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.Thank you.

Hi ernest,
I've just seen your post and I hope by now you know more about your fiancee's whereabouts.
IF you're still waiting for news, I would suggest that you (or anyone who might be in a similar situation) try as many of the following suggestions that you can. The main thing is to use the internet to your full advantage by contacting people through e-mail and chat sessions. Philippinos abroad tend to be a very close community and look out for each other. There are probably Philippino discussion forums based in Bahrain. Give them Anna's full name and details and ask them to spread the word among the Philippino and other communities. It shouldn't be too hard to trace an Arab-American couple in Bahrain especially since the Arab employer is an expatriate.
Try to have your story printed in the English newspaper e.g. a paragraph stating that Anna's friends and family are trying to find her. The easiest way to do this is again to get your community's help. Maybe someone will know a sympathetic reporter (who will probably be an expat and an Indian) who will be able to insert the story in the domestic section. Since you don't have all the facts at this stage be careful about pointing fingers at the employers and getting hackles up. Do it discreetly by making it a 'human interest' story that happens to be conveniently timed with the approaching of Valentines Day e.g. the worried fiancee who has had no contact since November. I know that Valentines Day is not an official holiday in Bahrain, but the readers of the English newspapers probably can relate to it.
Persist with the Embassy route. Even if you are ignored at first. Contact the Philippines Goverment in Manilla and your embassy/consulate in Bahrain. Contact the U.S. embassy in Bahrain even if you still don't know the name of the woman that Anna was working for. The fact that a U.S. national is involved puts a responsibility on the U.S. plus the fact that the embassy will definitely be able to trace who she is among the Saudi-U.S. couples in Bahrain. If Anna's employers have not been fair to Anna, the poor conduct of a citizen will be bad publicity for the U.S. embassy. Bahrain is a small place; embarassing news can spread easily there and abroad.
Good luck :)

There are many reasons why women are treated like animals in arab countries, or in any country for that matter. One reason that seems most obvious and easily curable is how sexually repressed men are in most countries where there is a high rate of violence against women and children. I would debate that men who are not able to act as they wish in a society in terms of their sexuality will allow their emotions and desires to guide them rather than their brains. Constantly looking for sexual fulfillment in the most devious ways possible. They are stuck in a pubescent stage to say the least. In terms of the abuse of the south east asian women by the various Arabic employers, I would suggest that any group of people that pray to God five times a day, but yet treat fellow human beings in such a manner perhaps may need to take some of those occasions of prayer to see how the prayer verses match up with how one lives their life.

I suggest that we take down the facades and taboos of how women are supposed to behave and how men are supposed to behave. Keep laws in place to protect those who dont wish to be disturbed. If a woman wants to have multiple partners, and if a man doesnt want to be married, there sholdnt be any thing to prohibit them. Only sexual laws that should be is to prevent sexual predators, which would not really be a problem if men and women were allowed to live their own lives. In the end, this may help those who are religous to live a life more suitable and in line with the teachings of One's God.

Obviously. there are too many men in power with pubescent mentalities and therefore too irrational to make any real logical system to curb attrocities against humanity.

anyone have any links to articles about this issue please post.

hey everybody,

I am sara , from syria. It is certainyl extremely sad here in the middle east how Helpers and migrant workers are being treated. Amusingly though, i assure you that families cannot survive without their support for a single hour. I just want to clarify on something. I have to say that it is not religiously inspired.i am in no way fighting for islam, if anything im born a muslim but i am agnostic right now. It is a social tradition and has abosultely nothing to do with religion. Infact if islam was practiced as it is you would be surpised how better the situation would be, in a relgion where a woman has the right to divorce her husband if he provides her no sexual satisfaction, i can hardly see how this misogynist attitude comes from.

a simple example. For political reasons ofcourse, you dont hear of this everyotherday. IN lebanon, syrian workers (amongst other migrant innocent workers running away from the hellish lives in their own natives countries to face even worse conditions) are treated exactly the same as srilankan women. Their homes (more like tents) burnt down, raped, abused, underpaid.

Sara

I come from Singapore, and most households here employ foreign maids. These maids are abused, under-nourished and even sometimes killed. They do not all belong to Muslim households. In fact, Muslim families are part of the minority in Singapore.

Thus it's hard to blame Islam for this abuse. It's the selfishness of the employer and his lack of compassion for someone less fortunate than himself.

If you look at the bigger picture, you'll begin to notice that maid abuse is rampant everywhere (even in Hollywood) and not just in Islamic countries. It is a power-based and gender-based problem and has nothing to do with religion.
gender-based problem and has nothing to do with religion.

I feel sad for those Sri Lankan ladies trapped in a barbaric country called Saudi Arabia - I don't wish to sound racist but I have developed an instinctive dislike and hatred for people of Middle-Eastern descent, mostly Sheikhs from UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - they like to make slaves out of anybody and everybody and are truely inhuman bastards. They don't have any intellectual or scientific capability and are thriving only due to the money Petroleum brings. Once the whole world learns to live on fossil fuels, these Allah-suckers will be as redundant as the camels in the fucking desert.

Uh, newsflash people:

Other Arabs are second-class citizens in SA and the Gulf.

Don't you people have any Pali, Egyptian, or Lebanese friends?

They essentially provide the higher education in some of these countries (Kuwait), and they are still treated like trash.

I don't think that Islam has as much to do with it as some of you do, except that most Saudi men think they can probably just tell the morals gestapo that a maid was worshipping an idol, and that he was punishing her. Really, Salafist Muslims believe that they are the only true Muslims---they call the others "claimants." They represent 5% of Islam, and they teach whatever they number to is the number of Muslims in the world today.

The only people who are treated well in Saudi Arabia ever are Americans and rich East Asians.

Hello
who ever wnats to come saudi arabia as domestic helper better suicide.Because im working in riyadh in hotel im receiving so many maids with there sponser really they are ill treated.
The last incident was Rizana Nazik awiting for beheadding for killing a babay actually she did not do that crime its a saudi style

please whoever try to send there beloved ones stop from now

You have to understand the source of the problem before dealing with it,
shouldnt we ask ourselves the questions to begin with, like why are one in 19 women in srilanka going out of their country to work to begin with? the problem clearly is not only in the middle east oor any host country, and is rather to be dealt with in srilanka as a source.

as for those of you who are assuming that there is some racist ''arab'' culture against srinlankans and anyworkers, you are absolutely wrong. you are doing precisely what those that hurt srilankans are doing, stereotyping.

The people who can afford to get a helper in their house (no matter how underpaid these helpers might be ) are filthy rich bastards that have been in worse situations themselves before. And the economic conditions of most of those countries are so bad that even LOCAL women are paid the same.

I am planning on finding a group of peoplethat are interested in the establishment of an organizationthat would try to protest if not protect the rights of forwign workers in those countries, and treat them as guests rather than abuse them.

The governments of India and Sri Lanka need to open up a branch to deal specifically with this very serious issue. Before anyone is allowed to leave India for work in the middle east, contact needs to be made between this branch and their new employer, a relationship established and a contract signed to ensure the safety of the foriegn employee. The branch needs to contact the employee as well as employer once a month to confirm that the contract is being honored. That passports never leave the possession of the employee should be one of the main requirements of the contract.