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

notified, the police will cancel the worker’s residency permit and file an order
for his or her detention. 69 As the Social Work Society in Kuwait explained:
“After being caught, the domestic worker is put in jail and the case is dealt
with in court. Most domestic workers want to go home because they only
have the choice between jail and home.” 70 The police must deport domestic
workers charged with absconding after a period of detention that must not
exceed six months. In 2011 alone, 2,353 domestic workers from Ethiopia,
Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Philippines were deported from Kuwait. 71
In order to avoid the charge of absconding and so prevent their residency visas
from being cancelled, domestic workers escaping an exploitative working
situation must register a police complaint before their employer reports their
absence. 72 This provision has apparently led to a “race to the police station”
in order to report the situation before the employer denounces the worker
for absconding. 73
If the domestic worker tries to leave the country without the employer’s
consent, he or she will be turned back at the airport. According to one
official from the GDGS at Beirut International Airport, “our staff checks
the validity of the residency card and passport. If the person does not have
a valid residency card, they need to obtain an exit visa before being able to
leave. They need to request clearance at the Ministry of Labour and pay the
exit taxes. There are more problems with domestic workers than with other
workers.” 74
Domestic workers may also find themselves prevented from legally leaving
the country by a personal exit ban. This may be issued after the employer
has made a formal complaint against a worker for absconding, or because
of a supposed theft. 75 An Indian man interviewed in Kuwait, who had been
working as a cook with a domestic worker’s visa, explained: “I went to the
Aliens’ Residence Law, art. 20.
69
Kuwait, Ministerial Order No. 84 regulating the conditions and formalities of private
servants’ ordinary residence, 1977, arts 3 and 4.
70
Interview with an official from the Social Work Society of Kuwait, Kuwait, 31 Mar.
2012.
71
Statistics provided in 2012 by Kuwait’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour,
Department of Work Relations.
72
Interview with several officials of Kuwait’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, 25
Mar. 2012.
73
US Department of State: Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 (Washington, DC, 2012).
Although the details of the situation as described in this paragraph apply to Kuwait,
similar procedures operate in Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE.
74
Interview with official from the GDGS at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport,
Lebanon, 27 Sep. 2011.
75
Allegations of theft are often made by employers as a means of preventing domestic
workers from leaving. In Lebanon, “theft charges account for half of the total number
of arrests of migrant domestic workers by the Internal Security Forces each month”
(Shahinian: Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery: Mission to
Lebanon, p. 10.
61