US embassy workers at risk of exploitation
Arab Times, 10 February 2011
WASHINGTON, Feb 8, (AP): American embassies in Arabian Gulf states are using contract laborers whose employers are illegally confiscating their passports and providing them with poor pay and living conditions, putting them at risk for exploitation, according to an internal State Department report released Monday.
The department’s inspector general said contractors who supply gardeners, maids, cooks and local guards to embassies in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are engaged in practices that fall just short of violations of US human trafficking laws.
More than three-quarters of the dozens of laborers at the embassies in question told investigators that they had to pay recruitment fees to get their jobs, which for more than 25 percent amounted to more than a year’s salary.
All the contractors surveyed held the passports of the workers, many of whom are from South and Southeast Asia, a practice that is barred in each of the four countries.
In addition, more than 70 percent of workers interviewed said they lived in overcrowded, unsafe or unsanitary conditions, with 20 occupying quarters with less personal space than that required by inmates at minimum security prisons in the United States.
The report said that while none of the embassies or contractors are technically violating US laws aimed at preventing such abuses, steps should be taken to improve the working and living conditions of the workers.
The department’s inspector general said contractors who supply gardeners, maids, cooks and local guards to embassies in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are engaged in practices that fall just short of violations of US human trafficking laws.
More than three-quarters of the dozens of laborers at the embassies in question told investigators that they had to pay recruitment fees to get their jobs, which for more than 25 percent amounted to more than a year’s salary.
All the contractors surveyed held the passports of the workers, many of whom are from South and Southeast Asia, a practice that is barred in each of the four countries.
In addition, more than 70 percent of workers interviewed said they lived in overcrowded, unsafe or unsanitary conditions, with 20 occupying quarters with less personal space than that required by inmates at minimum security prisons in the United States.
The report said that while none of the embassies or contractors are technically violating US laws aimed at preventing such abuses, steps should be taken to improve the working and living conditions of the workers.
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Hey, I have a super duper idear: Hire Americans! There are lots of people coming off the CSA contract. Why don't you have Americans working at the front reception desk (where you hand out the badges)? To me, it is just WRONG to have someone there who 1) isn't friendly 2) doesn't know American names 3) doesn't know the proper way to address people. Hire an Arab-American if you are concerned about language being an issue. I'm a business person. I assume most people visiting the embassy are there on business. I would like to be properly addressed and spoken to.
Here is my headline: US embassy visitors at risk...
Of Frustration: I was at the Embassy the other day and here is what I want to know: Seriously, is there like one guy who has been hired to take my name OFF the list to get into the embassy? Every single time I go there, people swear that they have added my name and then ... WABAM! I wait politiely as they are not very nice to me - (either through body language or verbally) and then after Desert Girl reasonable-waiting-period (15 minutes) has passed (with many scowls from reception dude and no appologies), I leave.
This pisses me off.
Of a sprained ankle or blisters from cute shoes and a hike: "Why don't you call your contact?" Well no duuuuuh, except that you have made me leave my phone in the car which is parked 1/4 mile away. Why don't you have a phone on the wall and a list of numbers?
... don't get me started today....
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