Posted on 04/03/2015 3:28:32 AM PDT by Cronos
In the basement of an old tower block near Kuwait City, recruitment agents brandish files full of healthy, work-ready domestic workers. “Choose the one you want,” says one agent with a smile. “I will give you a hundred days’ guarantee. If you don’t like her you can send her back.”
..Women from Sierra Leone formerly employed as domestic workers in private Kuwaiti households said they had been “sold like slaves” by recruitment agents to families in the Kuwaiti capital and then resold multiple times.
“You have to work 24 hours [with] no day off. You can never leave the house … You are not allowed to use mobile phones. These people are not good.”
She raises her skirt to reveal a deeply scarred leg. Adama claims her employer paid her nothing for her work and deliberately spilled hot oil on her while she was cooking. “I was crying, [but] she did not even look at me. I said, ‘Madam, why you do this to me?’ She told me that I’m a slave … I’m too slow, I’m not fast enough.”
.. Under Kuwait’s kafala sponsorship system, domestic workers are not allowed to leave or change jobs without their employer’s permission. With their residency status also tied to their employer, if they run away they become “illegal”.
“The sense of having ‘paid for’ or having ‘bought’ a worker makes some employers feel entitled to treat the worker however they wish,” concludes a 2010 Human Rights report into the abuse of domestic workers in Kuwaiti households.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Most of this report is true, however, most of the maids and nannies in Kuwait are not from Sierra Leone; they are Filipino because Kuwaitis are racist toward blacks and often don't want black people in their homes. They treat expat men from poor countries the same way by hiring janitorial and construction workers from Bangledesh and put them in abominable living conditions - ten men to a room, no health care, working 60-70 hours per week with no rights. The sponsorship system was supposedly changed by law, but these practices still continue because of "wasta." American, European governments just look the other way. It's despicable.
this is an ally of ours.
next time some Hollywood bimbo screams about equal pay for women here she may want to address the more grievous transgression.
You know I believe George Bush senior should have left the Kuwaitis to Saddam...
And Saudi Arabia.
It’s just more islamaphobia!
Re comment from comments’ section: I was told the same applies in UAE and Bahrain.
saw this in 2003....reported to our Embassy and through the military....the US govt can’t say they didn’t know!
...and yes....most come from the Asian community...not so much Africa...but moslems are highly racists towards blacks in general...
I lived and worked in Amman, Jordan, Cairo and Erbil, Kurdistan region Iraq over 5 years. This sick problem is embedded in Arab culture. Some treated pretty good in these countries, but too many not. I agree on the Kuwaiti opinion they should have been left to Saddam. The Gulf state countries are among the worst offenders of human rights
Yeah,,,,LIKE slaves.
More and more I agree with this.
Personally, I think there is waaaaaaay too much Saudi influence in the halls of the Federal government.
I’m sure Tim Cook will write an editorial on this soon.
Besides the oil problem, leaving Saddam in Kuwait would likely have been the bomb around Y2K. Don’t believe that is a good play toy for any of the crazy Arabs.
A bit more specific than “Federal government”.
China is the biggest creditor to the U.S. - everyone knows that. But, do a little research on Saudi and Gulf States stakes in the U.S. economy as a whole. It can be a challenge since they often go through 3rd parties. Though one could look at more obvious ones to begin with.
I don’t think it has to do with the Debt. I think it is more personal, like the Bush Family being “friends” with the Saudi Royals.
And we know they have mastered lobbying...
In terms of the Saudis & Gulf States, wasn’t referring to debt, but influence, investment, stakes in U.S. economy.
(only referred to China as the biggest creditor).
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