Special Correspondent :
An increasing number of Bangladeshi maids is returning from Saudi Arabia after facing abuse from their employers.
According to local NGO BRAC, at least 900 women migrant workers have returned to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia this year to escape physical and sexual abuse there.
Most escaped to one of the safe houses run by the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh and Jeddah.
Besides, 48 bodies of Bangladeshi female domestic workers were brought back from Saudi Arabia this year. Twenty of them have reportedly committed suicide after facing torture by their employers.
Referring to the tales of returnees, BRAC officials said that most of the Bangladeshi female migrant workers are running away from their employers because of sexual abuse, deprivation of food and holidays, denial of sick leave, and non-payment of salaries.
One Salma Begum of Khulna alleged that her sister, who went to Saudi Arabia for job died because of brutal torture.
“My sister died on March 7, but we received the body on the 27th of last month. The death certificate cited that she died of heart disease. But her head was broken and there were signs of torture on the body as well,” said Salma Begum.
She also said her sister was first fled to a police station to escape torture from her employer in Saudi Arabia. But she was again handed over to her employers. And the employers brutally tortured her to death.
“I had stayed seven months with a Saudi family as a house maid. I had to face beating and torture every day during my work. When I sought my salary, they increased the torture. At one point, the family sold me through the maqtab to another family. I jumped through the window of a two-storey house to escape. Then people rescued me and took to the hospital, ” a returnee told The New Nation seeking anonymity.
She said she took treatment for two months in the hospital as her spine was broken from the jump.
“Later, I took shelter for four months at the safe home run by Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh. And the embassy sent me back home,” she added.
Alarmed by the horrific tales of abuse, torture and rising number of deaths, migration experts and human rights activists urged the government to stop sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia unless ensuring their protection.
“The authority should immediately impose ban on female migration in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations due to unsafe working condition there. The female migrant workers should not be treated as moneymaking machine. They have dignity and honour. We cannot sold them in the name of job, which comes as a ‘big shame for the nation,” a human right activist told The New Nation on condition of anonymity.
The right activist also demanded for active role of Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh to take legal action against the offender employers.
Bangladesh began sending female workers to Saudi Arabia in 2015 after signing an agreement with the Gulf nation.
The agreement was also signed with other countries, including Indonesia. But the country stopped sending female workers to Saudi Arabia due to reports of abuse.
