Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, ‎pdf 4.1 MB

classes,” said one woman from Cameroon in Lebanon, who ended up
employed as a domestic worker.
Box 3.2. Deception about the nature of the work
“I arrived at 3 a.m. Upon arrival, the border guard took my passport. I was
shocked but couldn’t do anything. I received no explanations, and once I took
my luggage, I had to follow the man in uniform, and I was thrown into a room
full of girls. There were about 30 sleeping on the floor. I didn’t have my passport
and was very angry. I knew it was not right. I asked many times: ‘Can I speak
to somebody?’ I talked about my rights. They told me, ‘Wait for your Madam
to take you.’ At 10 a.m., I was still in this room, very angry. I said I wanted to
talk to someone and make a call. From that moment, they monitored me very
closely. I was not allowed to go to the bathroom. Some of the girls had been in
this room for three days. At 3 p.m., my name was finally called. A man came
and my passport was given directly to him. On the way out of the airport, he
explained that I was going to work as a domestic for his family, his wife and
three children. I was shocked. I realized he was saying the truth and his family
was very nice. There was no room for me in their house; I was supposed to sleep
on the floor of the reception hall.”
Interview with Kenyan domestic worker, Lebanon, 24 September 2011.
In addition, some of the domestic workers interviewed explained that they
had been deceived about the type of work they were expected to carry out in
their employers’ homes. An Ethiopian domestic worker in Lebanon said she
had come to do housekeeping work, “but then I also had to care for the baby
and another child”. Many complained of being tasked with the cleaning of
multiple homes and of caring for children and the elderly. A domestic worker
from Cameroon had been told that she would clean her employer’s house,
but “in addition to the work at home, I am also obliged to clean rooms at
the hotel. I would never have come here if I known I had to live and work
in such horrible conditions.” The Qatar National Human Rights Committee
recorded similarly deceptive practices. In its annual report of 2007, it referred
to a case of an Indian domestic worker who had been taken by her sponsor
to Saudi Arabia and left to work there with his relatives for more than six
months. 43
Deception also occurs with respect to the worker’s destination. A
representative from Heartland Alliance reported that domestic workers and
other migrants are sometimes reluctant to voluntarily accept positions within
Iraq, including in the relatively secure Kurdistan Region. Several domestic
43
Qatar National Human Rights Committee: Fifth annual report on human rights in
Qatar (Doha, 2007), p. 67.
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