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 - 2000 to 2010 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/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7562 [accessed 20 January 2011] 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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Human Trafficking in [Bahrain Street Children in [Bahrain] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Bahrain] [other countries]