Report urges Bahrain to protect domestic maids against trafficking.

A report being compiled on the estimated 40,000 domestic maids in Bahrain has already shown the there is a serious problem with abuse and human trafficking. The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society is pressing the government to include domestic maids in labour rights legislation, a protection which the maids, who are largely from India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia are denied at present.
Faisal Fulad international relations director for BHRW said;
“Abuse happens all the time here and the BHRWS feels that the Bahrain government, particularly the Labour Ministry, needs to focus on several issues, the most important of which is that maids must be included in the labour law.
“It is also very important to have a law in Bahrain that puts a stop to human trafficking.
“Recruitment agencies must also be monitored by the Labour Ministry.”
Whilst the BHRWS acknowledged that the government of Bahrain was doing a great deal against human trafficking, it feared that domestic maids were not covered by law and were being trafficked and were often promised jobs as nurses or teachers and then put into abusive domestic service situations.To read more on this and related subjects, please visit Gulf Daily News, by clicking here.