Special Correspondent :
Over 100 female workers returned homes in the last two days from Saudi Arabia leaving behind horrific tales of sexual abuse and torture by employers.
Those who ran away from their employers gave unspeakable account of physical torture, sexual abuse and workload with irregular wages in most cases.
Most victims rushed to Saudi Arabia to escape from poverty at home without knowing the unsafe working condition there or ignoring warnings in many cases. They met the brute reality and decided again to return home losing personal honor and not earning enough to mitigate the family poverty. Many went taking loans from relatives and micro- credit lenders to pay the manpower brokers and see no exit now how to repay the debt.
Bangladeshi women are also working in other Gulf countries and their condition is reportedly marred with similar assault, and deprivation of regular wages. Many wonder why the government is allowing female manpower export at a time when traditional suppliers of female workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries like India, Nepal, Philippines, have stopped sending their female workers there as reprehensive stories of sexual assault and abuse surface over the past years while the host governments did almost nothing to protect them.
Female workers in Saudi Arabia and other countries are used almost like slaves at home and work place there. People are opposed to such export of female workers as housemaid but the government is showing no respect to such opposition although the honour and dignity of the nation is being severely compromised by such action.
One returnee who arrived at the at Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday night told media that her employers treated like a slave that they have bought her and have the right to abuse.
Monjura Begum who hailed from Dinajpur and arrived Dhaka on Saturday from Saudi Arabia said, “I lost everything …My passport and dignity. My employer had beaten me. Not being paid for months and even he harassed me sexually.”
“I had to face physical torture almost every day. They kept me confined, gave electric shock and tried to burn me,” said Mollika, another returnee, as tears rolled from her eyes.
“The female workers are returning homes with help of Bangladesh embassy. They fled from their workplace and took shelter in the embassy run safe homes. Embassy then process their return with tickets and travel pass, Dr Namita Halder, Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment told The New Nation last night.
She said those who are coming back fell victim because they didn’t get proper training and went without specific skills. As they were not trained properly and not aware of the situation they failed to adopt with work place condition.
But the point is that our women are sexually harassed and deprived of regular wages and overtime and our government has done nothing so far effective to stop such abuse at a time when over 200,000 women workers still remain in Saudi Arabia alone according to some estimates and their condition can be easily understood from the terrible accounts of the returnees.
Namita Halder blamed recruiting agencies for sending women workers without training adding the government will take action against the errant agencies. “We have already launched investigation against the agencies,” she said.
When asked, Namita Halder said, “There might be some incidents of torture and sexual done by the employers but it is not happening against all the workers.”
There is no secret that a section of manpower agent is regularly at work to collect female workers from countryside luring them of good fortune from working in the Middle East. They get imbursement of US$ 2000 for sending a female housemaid in Saudi Arabia where acute shortage of house main persists following withdrawal of such housemaid by former traditional suppliers. The government policy maker knows of it and yet leaving those manpower agents to run the infamous human trade.
Advocate Salma Ali, a human rights activist, said, there is no justification to knowingly make our women sex workers in the Gulf countries. Those coming back are returning losing everything. They are traumatized physically and mentally. She held BAIRA—the manpower export association responsible for it as they are treating it as profitable trade.
The government should do a lot to protect our women workers, she said but there is no minimum monitoring and measure at work to save the female workers. She said educated and skilled women may be sent but sending housemaid must be totally stopped.
