UNB, Dhaka :Migrant domestic workers from a number of countries, including Bangladesh are beaten, exploited, and trapped in forced labour situations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Thursday.”Female domestic workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia, and elsewhere face severe abuse and exploitation by employers and labour recruitment agencies,” the HRW report said.At least 146,000 female migrant domestic workers – possibly many more – from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia work in the UAE, the New York-based global rights watchdog said in its report.However, some embassies or consulates in the UAE do not have shelters or adequate staffing to deal with abused domestic workers, the report said.The UAE government, about to take up an influential new role in the International Labour Organization (ILO), has failed to adequately protect female domestic workers – many of them from the Philippines – from abuse by employers and recruiters.The 79-page report, “‘I Already Bought You’: Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates”, documents how the UAE’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, and the lack of labour law protections leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse.The report claimed that domestic workers, most from Asia and Africa, cannot move to a new job before their contracts end without the employer’s consent, trapping many in abusive conditions.Labour-sending countries do not fully protect the workers against deceptive recruitment practices or provide adequate assistance to abused nationals abroad.”The UAE’s sponsorship system chains domestic workers to their employers and then leaves them isolated and at risk of abuse behind the closed doors of private homes,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “With no labor law protections for domestic workers, employers can, and many do, overwork, underpay, and abuse these women.”The HRW interviewed 99 female domestic workers in the UAE, as well as recruitment agencies, lawyers, and others.Domestic workers told the HRW about not being paid, not having rest periods or time off, being confined in the employer’s homes, and of excessive workloads, with working days of up to 21 hours.They described being deprived of food and reported psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Many said their employers treated them like animals, or as if they were dirty and physical contact with them would be contaminating. In some cases, the abuses amounted to forced labor or trafficking.”My boss started hitting me after two weeks of being there,” one worker said. “She hit me with her fist to my chest. She scraped her fingernails to my neck, and slapped my face.
