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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Weird news - Hospital operates on maid to remove nails hammered into her body by her Saudi employer

The Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc depend on maids, servants, and workers from countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Phillipines, etc. The amounts that these workers can earn in these countries is fairly high as compared to their earnings in their home countries, but the working conditions are fairly restrictive. They really don't have too many rights in countries such as Saudi Arabia, with the employer family controlling their passports and visas, and any problem resulting quickly in imprisonment and deportation.
This situation leads to employers starting to feel that they can do anything with impunity, such as this case (link to article):

Doctors at a Sri Lankan hospital operated for three hours Friday to remove 18 nails and metal particles allegedly hammered into the arms, legs and forehead of a maid by her Saudi employer. Ariyawathie left Sri Lanka on March 25 to work as a housemaid in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the bureau registered her as a person obtaining a job from an officially recognized job agency.
She was held down by her employer's wife while the employer hammered the heated nails, Ruhunuge told CNN. She apparently had complained to the couple that she was being overworked, Ruhunuge said.
Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to about 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia, according to a report published earlier this year by Human Rights Watch. Many of the domestic workers are poor Asian women from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal. Widespread abuse has been documented by global human rights groups. Common complaints include unpaid wages, long working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees, said the Human Rights Watch report.

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