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

3.2.2. Recruitment
Recruitment of deceived “runaway” domestic workers
The voluntary recruitment of domestic workers to countries in the Middle
East has already been described in detail in the previous section on domestic
work. Domestic workers who decide to leave their employers without their
consent do so either as a last resort, in order to escape exploitative work
conditions, or as a means of securing better-paid jobs. Not all those who
run away will be subject to commercial sexual exploitation. However, some
may have boyfriends or agents who persuade them to leave their employers,
making false promises of love and increased income. The notion that a
domestic worker may have a partner is corroborated by one scholar who has
observed patterns in Lebanon and comments that “sexual liaisons between
maids and family members of the household sometimes occur and others
find partners, whether local Lebanese, from their countries of origin, or from
other countries such as India, Egypt or Syria”. 88
Having left the workplace without the employer’s prior consent, these
domestic workers, most of whom come from Asia or Africa, are at risk of
detention and deportation by the national authorities. They are therefore
particularly vulnerable to exploitation by their boyfriends or sex brokers
(pimps); sometimes they are even abducted outright by fellow migrant taxi
drivers whom they approach for help, who see them as a commercial asset.
The problem that national authorities and other concerned stakeholders
face is how to obtain reliable and credible information on these cases. It is
a challenge for law enforcement officials in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and
the UAE alike. “We hear rumours about domestic workers captured against
their will,” said one seasoned journalist in Kuwait, “but what happens in the
underground world is unknown.” 89 Officials at the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs in Kuwait also had heard of such cases, explaining: “The taxi
driver promises the ‘runaway’ a new job and better salary, but then takes her
to see clients.” 90 As it was impossible to visit apartments used for sex work
and carry out interviews there, the research team interviewed a number of
clients in Kuwait who spoke of the sex workers they had encountered.
Migrant workers from Egypt and Nepal who were clients of sex workers
agreed to be interviewed. They explained that the women working in these
secluded private apartments are all younger than 30, and come from different
88
R. Jureidini: “Sexuality and the servant: An exploration of Arab images of the
sexuality of domestic maids living in the household”, in S. Khalaf and J. Gagnon (eds):
Sexuality in the Arab world (Beirut, Saqi, 2006), p. 147.
89
Interview with Kuwaiti journalist, 25 Mar. 2012.
90
Interview with an official from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Kuwait, 25
Mar. 2012.
70