This is sick. When will it stop? I have actually seen EXPAT forums with EXPATS talking about how much they would pay for a maid. (As in buying from their sponsor.) Disgusting. How can you not find this offensive? How do you
rationalize slavery?? Well, in these sick-o's minds it goes like this, "Well, they were doing better than they would be in their home country...." Ick.
(Following this logic: Perhaps your daughter would do better being sold to someone than she would in your home country working in a fast food restaurant, no?)
Arab Times
9 July 2018 (not 1818....but 2018...)
Rights groups sound alarm over domestic workers for sale
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Such practices will affect Kuwait’s global reputation:
Bouqreis
(DG: Ya think???)
KUWAIT CITY, July 8: Widespread advertisements in electronic
applications explicitly saying “Domestic Workers for Sale” are among the
individual practices rearing heads to distort and block Kuwait’s efforts in
fighting human trafficking in the face of confident steps taken to preserve its
white dress in this regard, reports Al-Rai daily.
Human rights groups in Kuwait have sounded the alarm,
cautioning against complacency with declarations of this nature that waste the
effort to preserve Kuwait’s international image in terms of human rights. While
noting that Kuwait did not ratify the Migrant Workers Convention, its officials
considered the imbalance was not due to the absence of laws but leniency in its
application.
In this context, Khaled Al-Humaidi President of Kuwait
Society for Human Rights affirmed that “sale and purchase of workers and
offering them as a commodity via social media is considered trafficking in
humans with full integrated elements and cannot be seen in any other angle.”
He stressed that human trafficking operations are in fact a
very serious and cruel crime that humiliates and denigrates the human soul by
treating them as a commodity instead of a person. “This is a flagrant violation
and exploitation of human rights — especially for women working in the domestic
sector, he added, saying serious crime is perpetrated against the individual
who loses his or her humanity and entity and freedom in deciding the place of
work when they are exploited either for material gain or other purposes in
cases where they are made to move to another place of work through coercion.”
Monitored
Al-Humaidi concluded that Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights have monitored a
large number of cases of human trafficking on social networks and service
sites, and “in response to this dilemma, we call upon the concerned authorities
to act and arrest traffickers and hold them accountable without complacency, in
recognition of the obligations of the State of Kuwait to promote human rights
and the fight against trafficking in humans”.
Secretary General of the National Association for Family
Security Dr Mariam Al-Shammari had a different opinion. She defined human
trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receiving of
persons by means of threat, use of force or other forms of coercion such as
abduction, fraud, abuse of power or exploitation of a situation of
vulnerability.
She classified human trafficking into three main groups;
trafficking for forced labor, sexual exploitation or trafficking in human
organs. According to this definition, advertisements for the sale of domestic
workers in Kuwait are not considered a real and practical type of trafficking
in humans; rather, it’s a mistake in the use of the term (which was circulated
unconsciously or unaware of the dimensions of its use or the abuse it
represents).
For certain reasons, a family may wish to do away with the
services of a domestic worker or driver, while the other party also wishes to
remain in the State of Kuwait for work. National Association for Family
Security rejects this type of advertisement because it imposes suspicion and envisages
domestic worker as a commodity that can be sold or exchanged. She pointed out
that “the State of Kuwait, its humanitarian leader, government institutions,
and civil society organizations rejects everything that touches human dignity
and fights human trafficking.”
“Yes, we have noticed the presence of advertisements for the
sale of servants and resignation of servants on social media. It is a mistake
using the term for transfer of services, because it is contrary to Kuwaiti and
international labor laws,” statement said, noting “it affects the reputation of
Kuwait, so we must prevent its spread and correct the misconceptions about the
way domestic workers move from one house to another to prevent the use of the
term housemaid to housekeeper.” It’s the duty of the government to prevent and
criminalize advertisements that harm the State of Kuwait.
It is also necessary to conduct an extensive information
campaign to introduce the rights of the parties to the contract, such as
working hours, leave and end of service benefits. It should also include
penalties in case of violation to guarantee the rights of both parties, while
protecting the right of the employer to prevent him from falling into trouble
in the wake of the ignorance of labor law, and to prevent exploitation of
employers and domestic worker by some service offices
Human
Hadeel Bouqreis — proprietor of a school for human rights said what is
happening in Kuwait, as regards the sale and purchase of domestic workers under
the eyes and ears of government institutions and civil society organizations,
is called trafficking in human beings in a situation where a person is sold
from one family to another in a trend resembling the revival of slave trade
era.
It amounts to deprivation of rights of domestic workers,
which also contributes to promoting the concept of trafficking in humans. She
added, “Certainly such practices will affect Kuwait’s global reputation in the
field of rights, because when you translate the vocabulary of the advertisement
it shows the reader that what is happening is a form of sale, and these words
unfortunately are sometimes circulated as “I bought a worker”. All this makes
us confirm the translation of those ads indicates “human trafficking
operation”.
She continued “Kuwait is one of the countries that did not
ratify the Migrant Workers Agreement, and there are companies trading in
workers who pay huge sums to come to Kuwait. We have seen the UAE human rights
committees addressing violations in employment contracts, while we have in Kuwait
a number of problems unresolved so far. The new domestic labor law is not
applied and there’s no monitoring mechanism to follow up these laws.
--- end ---
So, why isn't someone meeting with these "sellers" and making deals, then arresting the offenders? Ironically, if you posted an ad saying you were selling yourself for sex on the internet (aka prostitution), you'd have a bunch of law enforcers on your doorstep in a heartbeat.... aint that a thang?
