7/30/2007 7:40:13 PM
96 Indians have died in Bahrain so far this year and one report claims 20 per cent of them were suicides
The Middle East principality has undergone a construction boom on the backs of labourers recruited from the Indian subcontinent. But these labourers live in squalid conditions, have financial difficulties and often suffer from home sickness.
Mohamed Shafiq, a Bangladeshi labourer, lives with numerous other immigrants in squalid conditions in Bahrain. “I have been in Bahrain for four and a half years. My employer has taken my passport so I can’t go home. I have had no work for five months. I am unwell, I have diabetes and I have no money to get myself medical treatment. I am struggling hard to survive,” he says.
7/30/2007 7:40:13 PM
96 Indians have died in Bahrain so far this year and one report claims 20 per cent of them were suicides
The Middle East principality has undergone a construction boom on the backs of labourers recruited from the Indian subcontinent. But these labourers live in squalid conditions, have financial difficulties and often suffer from home sickness.
Mohamed Shafiq, a Bangladeshi labourer, lives with numerous other immigrants in squalid conditions in Bahrain. “I have been in Bahrain for four and a half years. My employer has taken my passport so I can’t go home. I have had no work for five months. I am unwell, I have diabetes and I have no money to get myself medical treatment. I am struggling hard to survive,” he says.
Mohammed’s story is far from unique. More than a quarter of a million immigrants from the sub-continent are in the country – most are working as labourers. It’s often dangeorus work but suicides are also on the increase. 96 Indians have died in Bahrain so far this year and one report claims 20 per cent of them were suicides.
”Labourers are often placed in dangerous situations. Their workplace isn’t safe, they have no access to health and safety benefits and often have personal problems being so far from home. All of these issues make them consider suicide,” says Alawi Shabr, Director of National Advisory Committee for Health and Safety.
The problems follow attempts to change labour laws in Bahrain. There was a wave of union activity after employers were banned from sacking striking workers. As a result, strikes and worker protests were outlawed.
But Bahrain’s government says it’s not to blame. “What’s apparent is that the problem lies in the country of origin. Recruitment agencies, unfortunately, give unrealistic amounts of hope to the labourer so when he arrives in a Gulf country, one of which is Bahrain, he thinks he will make a fortune in a short period of time. The labourer pays them large amounts of money, sometimes more than $2,500, and he is reduced to selling his possessions to pay the debt.”
But $130 a month – the average wage for an unskilled worker – doesn’t go very far. Two Indian’s have jumped to their deaths recently, one landing on the windscreen of a passing car. Hanged immigrant workers are another regular feature in the local press. Bahrain may be booming, but it’s at a price.
(Reuters)