Bahrain Tribune – 27 September 2005
Trade unions in Bahrain have ignored the issue of migrant worker rights violations, said a human rights group and the most abused group – migrant women, particularly domestic workers – have no representation even though they make up the largest section of migrant women workers in Bahrain.
In a detailed report, the now disbanded Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) said common violations of migrant workers’ and women’s rights included seizing and holding of migrant workers’ identity papers (passports) and forcing them to sign false declarations that they had received all salary and dues when they hadn’t and physical abuse which extends to sexual abuse in the case of women workers.
Bahrain Tribune – 27 September 2005
Trade unions in Bahrain have ignored the issue of migrant worker rights violations, said a human rights group and the most abused group – migrant women, particularly domestic workers – have no representation even though they make up the largest section of migrant women workers in Bahrain.
In a detailed report, the now disbanded Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) said common violations of migrant workers’ and women’s rights included seizing and holding of migrant workers’ identity papers (passports) and forcing them to sign false declarations that they had received all salary and dues when they hadn’t and physical abuse which extends to sexual abuse in the case of women workers.
“It is regrettable that trade unions and women’s societies in Bahrain have not embarked on any serious discussion on the issue of Migrant Worker violations, nor are they trying to find any solutions for those workers, who are mainly women,” said BCHR Chairman Nabeel Rajab.
“Article No. 26 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families stipulates that the state should recognise the right of Migrant Workers to take part in meetings and activities of trade unions and of any other associations, with a view to protecting their economic, social, cultural and other interests, and to join them freely, and to seek their aid and assistance.
“The BCHR is gravely concerned over the increasing phenomenon of confiscating passports and travel documents of migrant workers by sponsors, recruitment agents or their companies,” he continued, “Such actions are taken in an attempt to blackmail the workers, force them to concede their salaries and indemnities which were gained through the years, taking advantage of their desperation in seeing their homes and families after years of separation.”
Another rights group specialising in protecting migrant workers’ rights has been raising the issue of unfair treatment of abused workers who abandon their workplace due to abuse or non-payment of salaries. The Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) has highlighted the problem of sponsors/employers reporting such workers as runaways to police or having them arrested under false charges when they press for their dues. They cited the case of a Pakistani restaurant worker who ran away from his sponsor who had a history of abusing employees but was deported after the sponsor reported him as a runaway.
More recently, 17 Indian workers were put behind bars on trumped-up charges when they demanded their salaries after months of not being paid. Cases of workers having to write off their indemnities and unpaid wages in order to gain the right to leave their jobs and go home after years of servitude, are not unknown.
Labour relations specialists say that the labour rules in Bahrain do not forbid expatriates from joining trade unions but expatriates voluntarily prefer to distance themselves from them because they fear that their contracts will be terminated and they will be sent back home. In the process, trade unions in Bahrain have become narrow in their focus on worker-management relations, limiting it to issues affecting Bahraini workers. Women workers, especially domestic workers are not even covered by Bahraini labour law, let alone allowed a trade union representation.
Another issue that the BCHR, the MWPS and other human rights activists raise frequently is that workers, especially women domestic workers, have no access to their community volunteers and are often not even allowed to stay in touch with their families back home.
In a case reported last week, a battered Indonesian housemaid told the media that she had not been allowed to speak to her family for over a year. Workers with disputes to settle about changes in their contracts and abuse are not allowed to seek alternative employment while their cases are being heard. As a result and because of the slow process of the legal system, many prefer to drop the cases and return home empty-handed without their just dues.
“What increases the BCHR’s concern is the stance of the official institutions of law-enforcement, which are content to merely watch these violations of the rights of these migrant workers, in movement, work and keeping their passports,” Rajab said, “When migrant workers are not allowed to work and earn a living without their sponsor’s permission during a dispute, these official institutions fail to provide a shelter during that period and the workers are left with no source of income to live on. In fact, these institutions avoid taking any measures against the employers, who prevent their workers from travelling and hold their travel documents.”
The BCHR report noted that there was an increase in the number of suicides and attempted suicides among the underprivileged workers because of such frustrations. “In 2003, 40 per cent of the cases of attempted suicide transferred to psychiatric hospitals were migrant women domestic workers,” the report said, “While the total number of Asian worker suicides in 2003 was 22, in the first three months of 2004 alone the number exceeded 11.”