By Warren Popp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait – Hundreds of domestic workers from the Philippines are filling the lobby of the Philippine embassy in Kuwait. As more domestic workers continue to arrive, they are straining the already limited capacity of this make-shift shelter.

The Philippine workers have been fleeing their Kuwaiti sponsors on a daily basis since at least 2009 (a Kuwait Times article in July 2009 cited reports of five to ten Philippine maids fleeing daily). The New York Times reported that Philippine embassy officials fear that the arrival of Ramadan in the coming weeks, with the extra strain of the long days of food preparation for the large evening meal, and long nights, is expected to lead to the arrival of perhaps hundreds of new domestic workers seeking protection at the embassy. To highlight this fear, the New York Times reported the case of Rosflor Armada, who said that during Ramadan last year, she was only permitted to sleep for two hours because she need to cook for the evening meal. She reportedly left her employers after they tried to make her wash windows at three in the morning. Armada is one of those staying in the embassy shelter.

The New York Times notes that the existence of these types of shelters represents “a hard reality here:” There are few legal safeguards for employers who mistreat or refuse to pay their domestic workers, and the existing laws pertaining to domestic workers reportedly err on the side of protecting employers. Thus, for many workers, escape from their employers is their only viable option. It should also be noted that, according to the New York Times, these informal shelters are open secrets and touchy subjects in Kuwait.

A 2010 United States Department of State report noted some migrants “are subjected to conditions of forced labor by their sponsors and labor agents, including through such practices as nonpayment of wages, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement, such as the withholding of passports.”

Kuwaiti official claim that the majority of the approximately 650,000 domestic workers in Kuwait are treated well, with many being considered a part of the families that they are employed by, and many are even given extra pay and benefits during Ramadan.

However, separate stories of Indonesian domestic workers being brutally killed by their sponsors in recent weeks, as well as reports that a Sri Lankan domestic worker was imprisoned by her Kuwaiti employers for 13 years, have drawn attention to the issue. In the case of domestic worker, Abdulaziz al Falekh, the couple that was sponsoring her admitted to torturing her, and then, after fearing that the maid would die from the torture, taking her to the desert and crushing her to death with their car to make it look like she was run over by another motorist.

In the case of a domestic worker named Sariah, an Indonesian forensics team found that she was beaten to death with a blunt object, while a Kuwaiti forensics team had earlier claimed that Sariah had died of natural causes. According to the Jakarta Globe, Sariah told her family that her boss routinely abused her, and, in her last phone conversation with her family, she informed them that she had been beaten and locked in a room without meals. The director of Migrant Care, which was contacted by Sariah’s family after she was admitted to hospital in a coma, claims that Kuwaiti officials failed to investigate the case despite solid evidence that there was torture and beatings caused by her employer. The director said that Migrant Care was forced to act to ensure an autopsy was completed, as the government does not routinely do autopsies on deaths of migrant workers.

The director of Migrant Care said that, according to its data, there has not been a single foreign employer from a Middle-East country that has been found guilty of abusing a domestic worker. She hopes that Sariah’s case, “could be the starting point to investigate other deaths and we hope the government will be more attentive to our workers.”

For more information, please see:

New York Times – Immigrant Maids Flee Lives of Abuse in Kuwait – 1 August 2010

Jakarta Globe – Ministry Probes Brutal Death Of Indonesian Maid in Kuwait– 23 July 2010

Manilla Bulletin Publishing Corporation – DFA Confirms Death of 2 OFWs in Kuwait – 20 July 2010

Arab Times – Couple Admits Killing Filipina Maid – 17 July 2010

Kuwait Times – 5 to 10 Filipina Maids Fleeing Sponsors Daily – 27 July 2009