New Delhi, April 30: Employers in the Gulf may be hiring maids just to abuse them, says a rights group.
A leading international rights group says reforms undertaken by governments in the Middle East to protect female domestic workers from abuse are insufficient.
The Human Right Watch says millions of Asian and African women working as house maids in the Mideast remain at risk of exploitation and violence.
The New York-based group also said in a report released on Thursday that several governments have made improvements for migrant domestic workers in the past five years, but reform has been slow and incremental.
The 26-page report documents progress in extending protections to mostly Asian women working as house maids in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Happens in India too
The thing is prevalent in India too. Take this for instance.
The Gujarat High Court has directed hospital authorities to conduct medical examination of a 13-year-old victim who has sought permission for abortion after she conceived as a result of being repeatedly raped allegedly by her employer.
Justice A S Dave directed the medical officer at the Surendranagar civil hospital to find out if the minor girl was physically and mentally fit to undergo termination of pregnancy.
The doctor has been asked to submit the report by May 4, and the girl also has been asked to remain present in the court.
The girl’s parents had approached the High Court seeking permission for termination of pregnancy after they found that the girl was impregnated by her employer Ghanshyamsinh Rajput.
The girl belongs to a poor family in Dhrangadhra of Surendranagar district and was working at the Rajput house as a domestic help.
Rajput allegedly raped the minor repeatedly. When her parents came to know that she was two-month pregnant, they approached a doctor to get the pregnancy terminated. But the doctor asked them to obtain permission from the court as they had registered a case with police.
The parents then approached the High Court after a local court denied them permission for abortion.
—Agencies