Trapped in abusive jobs in Oman
Many migrant domestic workers, including Bangladeshis, are trapped in abusive employment in Oman with their plight hidden behind closed doors, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report yesterday.
The 68-page report titled “'I Was Sold': Abuse and Exploitation of Migrant Domestic Workers in Oman” documents how Oman's visa sponsorship system for workers -- known as kafala -- and lack of labour protection laws leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse and exploitation by employers, whose consent they need to change jobs.
Those who flee abuse including beatings, sexual abuse, unpaid wages, and excessive working hours have little avenue for redress and can face legal penalties for “absconding,” it mentioned.
HRW interviewed 59 female domestic workers in Oman. In some cases, workers described abuses that amounted to forced labour or trafficking often across Oman's porous border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Migrant domestic workers in Oman are bound to their employers and left to their mercy,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East women's rights researcher at HRW.
“Employers can force domestic workers to work without rest, pay, or food, knowing they can be punished if they escape, while the employers rarely face penalties for abuse,” she said.
At least 1,30,000 female migrant domestic workers, and possibly many more, work in the sultanate. Most are from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia, the report said.
Some 50,000 female and over 5,00,000 male Bangladeshis are now working in Oman, according to Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).
Oman is now the largest destination for Bangladeshi male and the third largest destination for female jobseekers, according to statistics of BMET.
Talking about the HRW report, Zahed Ahmed, counsellor (labour) at the Bangladesh Embassy in Muscat said there are some incidents of abuses -- work-load, passport confiscation, irregular salary payment and beating.
“Like other Middle Eastern countries, domestic workers including Bangladeshis are also facing abuses in Oman. As the domestic maids are being hired individually or privately here, it is difficult to assess all the employers,” he told The Daily Star from Oman over the phone yesterday.
The counsellor stressed the need for bringing in reforms in the recruitment of domestic maids and ensuring proper training for interested domestic workers so that they could know about the culture and tradition of Oman.
According to the report, most of the workers interviewed by HRW said their employers confiscated their passports, did not pay them their full salaries, forced them to work excessively long hours without breaks or days off, or denied them adequate food and living conditions.
In one documented case, Bangladeshi Asma K said she went to the UAE to work there, but her recruitment agent “sold” her to a man who confiscated her passport and took her to Oman.
He forced her to work 21 hours a day for a family of 15 with no rest or day off, deprived her of food, verbally abused and sexually harassed her, and paid her nothing, she told HRW.
She said her employer made her work from 4:30am until 1:00am without rest. “For the entire day they wouldn't let me sit. I used to be exhausted ... He wouldn't give me food. When I said I want to leave, he said, 'I bought you for 1,560 rials (US$4,052) from Dubai. Give it back to me and then you can go.'”
Some said their employers physically abused them; a few described sexual abuse.
The situation is so dire that some countries, such as Indonesia, have banned their nationals from migrating to Oman and other countries with comparable track records.
The report said Oman's restrictive kafala system, also used in neighbouring Gulf countries, ties migrant domestic workers' visas to their employers.
HRW urged the Omani authorities to provide the domestic workers with labour law protections equal to those enjoyed by other workers, and investigate all situations of possible trafficking, forced labour, and slavery.
The organisation, however, claimed that the Omani government did not respond to its requests for information on law reforms or other measures to protect domestic workers' rights.
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