Call for probe into reasons behind suicides of expats
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10119969.html
04/21/2007 11:14 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini rights watchdog has called for a thorough investigation of the reasons behind the increasing number of suicides among expatriate workers in the country.
“The reasons, conditions and situation which lead migrant workers in Bahrain to take their own lives should be investigated,” Nabeel Rajab, vice-president of the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, yesterday said in a statement to Gulf News.
Call for probe into reasons behind suicides of expats
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10119969.html
04/21/2007 11:14 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini rights watchdog has called for a thorough investigation of the reasons behind the increasing number of suicides among expatriate workers in the country.
“The reasons, conditions and situation which lead migrant workers in Bahrain to take their own lives should be investigated,” Nabeel Rajab, vice-president of the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, yesterday said in a statement to Gulf News.
According to the activist, Bahrain needs to examine the terrible conditions in which migrant workers live here. “Financial difficulties, familial pressure, loneliness, alienation and miserable living conditions are often the problems that these people face,” he said.
Taking responsibility
“Bahrainis and the embassy officials of the expatriates’ origin countries need to take responsibility for protecting the rights of these workers to ensure as much as possible that the expatriates who contribute so much to this country are living in dignity and good health,” he said.
Rajab’s call for investigation came a few days after an Indian threw himself off a pedestrian bridge in Manama, the second man to do so in three months.
“Four months into the new year, a fifth migrant worker has committed suicide in Bahrain. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is shocked and dismayed at the news that Ashokan Vamoora ended his life by throwing himself off a pedestrian bridge over a busy highway in Manama,” the rights activist said.
Under pressure to find a durable solution before the pedestrian bridge turns into a routine location for suicides, the local authorities said they were looking into ways to modify the structure of the bridge.
But Nabeel said more practical action was needed and that both the local authorities and the embassy officials had to address the roots of the problem.
“While moves to modify the bridge may prevent such incidents from taking place in that specific location, it is by no means a comprehensive measure to deal with the problem,” he said.
Five workers killed themselves this year
Moments of utter despair: Migrant workers who killed themselves this year
January 3: An Indian man hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his apartment.
January 20: A. Hamza Maheen, a 47-year-old Indian threw himself off the suicide bridge.
January 21: A man’s body was discovered after he hanged himself.
February: A 49-year-old Bangladeshi man committed suicide
April 15: Ashokan Vamoora threw himself off the bridge