November 24, 2008
WUNRN
Human Rights Watch
November 24, 2008
Many
Nations Have Failed to Stem Mental, Physical, Sexual Abuse
(New
York, November 24, 2008) - Many migrant and domestic workers still face abuse
and exploitation in Middle Eastern and Asian countries because governments have
failed to adopt measures needed to protect them, Human Rights Watch said today
ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on
November 25.
Few domestic workers have access to the justice system in the countries where they work, and even those who are able to make complaints of physical or sexual violence rarely receive redress, Human Rights Watch said.
"There are countless cases of employers threatening, humiliating, beating, raping, and sometimes killing domestic workers," said Nisha Varia, deputy director of the women's rights division of Human Rights Watch. "Governments need to punish abusive employers through the justice system, and prevent violence by reforming labor and immigration policies that leave these workers at their employers' mercy."
Millions of women from countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal are domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries throughout the Middle East and Asia. Most countries exclude domestic workers from protection under their labor laws, leaving domestic workers little remedy against exploitative work conditions.
Domestic workers are also at heightened risk of abuse because of restrictive immigration-sponsorship policies that link their visas to their employers. Employers control a worker's immigration status and ability to change jobs, and sometimes whether the worker can return home. Many employers exploit this power to confine domestic workers to the house, withhold pay, and commit other abuses.
Authorities receive thousands of complaints of labor exploitation or abuse each year. While most involve unpaid wages, food deprivation, and long working hours with no rest, a significant number allege verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. But many cases are never officially reported, due to domestic workers' confinement in private homes, lack of information about their rights, and employers' ability to deport them before they can seek help.
Some law enforcement authorities have begun to prosecute and punish abusive employers, although to varying degrees. In 2008 in Singapore, several employers have been convicted of beating domestic workers, receiving sentences ranging from three weeks to 16 years in prison. In mid-November, a man was sentenced in Malaysia to 32 years in prison for raping a domestic worker, and his wife received six years for abetting the crime.
But criminal justice systems often continue to expose abused domestic workers to further victimization and give them no - or only severely delayed - redress:
"2008 marked a year of missed opportunities,'' Varia said. "While most governments have started to think about some level of reform, many of these discussions have stalled. Providing comprehensive support services to victims of violence, prosecuting abusers, and providing civil remedies are reforms that just can't wait."
Human Rights Watch recommends that, in order to curtail all forms of violence against migrant domestic workers, governments should:
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