Door Walden Bello, Foreign Policy in Focus, 1 februari 2011The rescue team that arrived to save Lorena advised her not to jump from the second-floor window. That gave her employer time to sexually assault her again.
(...) The working conditions of many domestics, which include 18-22 hour days and violent beatings, cannot but be described except as virtual slavery. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery by royal decree in 1962, but customs are hard to overcome. Royal and aristocratic households continue to treat domestic workers as slaves, and this behavior is reproduced by those lower in the social hierarchy. Apparently among the items of the “job description” of a domestic slave in Saudi is being forced to minister to the sexual needs of the master of the household.
(...) Rape does not (...) take place only in the household. With strict segregation of young Saudi men from young Saudi women, Filipino domestic workers, who usually go about with their faces and heads uncovered, stand a good chance of becoming sexual prey. This is true particularly if they make the mistake of being seen in public alone -- though the company of a friend did not prevent the teenagers from snatching Fatimah. And the threat comes not only from marauding Saudi youth but also from foreign migrant workers, single and married, who are deprived by the rigid sexual segregation imposed by the ever-present Religious Police from normal social intercourse with women during their time in Saudi. Perhaps as a result of the institutionalized repression of Saudi women and their strict subordination to males, Saudi society is suffused with latent sexual violence, much more so than most other societies.
Zie ook (deels later toegevoegd):
Zoveel misbruik in de Golf, dat Nepal vrouwen onder de 30 verbiedt er te werken
Door Sacha Kester, Trouw, 10 augustus 2012 [update: link gebroken; hier nog in archief]
World Report 2012: A Landmark Victory for Domestic Workers
Door Nisha Varia en Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch, 2012
[...] 'The fight is not over. We need to go back home. We need to campaign. We need to be sure that what we vote for is implemented. We must not rest until our governments ratify the convention. We cannot be free until we free all the domestic workers.'
Indonesian maid abuse ignored because migrants ‘worth billions’
Door Sarah Cheverton, Women's views on news, 23 november 2010
Following WVON’s coverage of the recent cases of murder and torture of migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia (here, here and here), an Indonesian NGO, Migrant Care, has criticised the lack of an adequate response [by the Indonesian government] to the ongoing and appalling treatment of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia - "Because migrant workers generate $7.5 billions of dollars in foreign exchange every year.”
The government of Indonesia has been widely criticised by human rights groups for its refusal to ratify a UN convention on the protection of migrant workers.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, it has also failed to sign a bilateral agreement that would allow Indonesian migrant workers a legal framework in which to challenge their employers.
Later toegevoegd:
Saudi Religious Leader Calls for Gang Rape of Syrian Women
Door Laura Gottesdiener, Alternet, 2 januari 2013
[...] [Muhammed al-Arifi] specified that the 'intercourse marriages' last only a few hours 'in order to give each fighter a turn'.
Foto geplukt van Women's views on news
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten