Harassment

• I think there is enough information in the Kuwait Times on the harassment of foreign workers for us NOT to require blow by blow exact incidences! Kuwait has now deported about 1000 bangladeshi workers for demanding... ohhh...silly little things like actually being paid their measly 18KD a month and not having to share an unaconditioned apartment with 20 others, having running water (to have a shower and not smell), and being treated with some semblence of respect. I'm glad even the government has acknowledged this and is investigating companies who allegedly abuse and not pay their workers and is proposing minimum conditions of work including minimum pay. I'm not sure why decided to deport and if they thing another planeload of workers from a different country is going to put up with this rubbish?? I agree with a posting above...if all your blue collar foreign labour left...who would do the work that no Kuwaiti feels they would ever do??? The workers are reporting incidences of abuse at the hands of police as well as employers. How frightening is that to know you have nowhere to go for help if you are attacked or mistreated as a human being??!!!. Think about the outrage if a Kuwaiti went to a western country to work and wasn't paid or was beaten or treated badly - complete outrage, government investigation, intervention etc etc!!! If the colour of the foreign workers' skin is the problem in choosing to mistreat them, let me tell you, outside the middle east, Kuwaitis are the same colour as Indians/Bangladeshis/Pakistanis etc. THere is NO distiction. And Kuwaitis do travel outside Kuwait so they KNOW that the rest of the world isn't like them - they take off to Europe/UK/USA every summer and drag maids there with them and look absolutely ridiculous as they walk ahead with some poor malnourished indian walks behind laden with bags and children and believe me - people do notice and LAUGH...it's comical. Also, I've lived in other countries where domestic workers are used and I've never encountered so many reports of attempted & successful suicides of maids as I have here. Suicidal maids do not choose Kuwait to come and die in, Kuwait causes it...isn't that shameful??? As we are on the verge of Olympics where Olympians who win anything become spotlighted by the rest of the world, I wonder does Kuwait want the attention from sporting and human rights group as it sits in the grip of unrest from its foreign labour force because i'm telling you, it's not going to stop with the Bangladeshis - people take courage from the courage of others and there are lots of ethnic groups in the same boat. I've only lived here a short time and yes, it's as good as you make it and I'd like there ot be more culture and fun, but that aside...change needs to start with human relations.

  People 07 Aug 2008, 09:04 - Report

Kuwait + Culture