For many Indians, the term “Gulf nation” symbolises hope, a sign of good life and prosperity. Gulf countries attract Indians in large numbers, especially from Kerala. But sadly, the ground reality that has emerged paints a different picture altogether — with reports of workplace harassment, “horrible bosses” and difference in culture, many Indians are quitting […]
Author: Rejimon Kuttapan
Suffering beatings, burns and abuse for over a year, a domestic maid escapes from her Kuwaiti employers and finally comes home “I was beaten up daily for silly reasons. I was locked up in a store-room and they used to inflict burns on my body whenever they were angry. They provided only a little food […]
Migrant workers have been stuck in the Gulf country for over 18 months, without food, water or adequate shelter “For the last 18 months, Embassy officials and ministers are coming and going. We hear the same words. We will be rescued soon, help is on the way, no need to worry… But now we are […]
Manjusha OM, an Indian domestic worker from Kerala, returned home empty-handed from Saudi Arabia, with a shattered mind and bruises on her body, after working like a slave for eight months. She was beaten up by her Arab employer for ‘disobedience’ during her 20-hour-long duty and had to eat from garbage bins to keep herself […]
Rajayah Yenkampally, a 43-year-old native of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is on a train home from Mumbai. “I Landed at Mumbai airport from Kuwait today (Saturday). Still it hurts. I have 22 stitches in my head.” Yenkampally, who migrated to Kuwait in 2016 on a domestic worker visa, was forced to work […]
Gireesh Kumar, an engineer from the south Indian state of Kerala at a company in Qatar, is quite hopeful as the Qatari government is initiating wide-ranging reforms in its labour system to protect and respect migrant workers’ rights. Gireesh who joined an oil company in Qatar some two years ago was betrayed by the recruitment […]
Manjusha Om, a 38-year-old divorcee from Kerala and mother of two girl children aged 14 and 8, emigrated to Saudi Arabia to earn little extra money last March. But last week, she returned to Palode, a small village in the foothills of the Western Ghat mountain ranges in Thiruvananthapuram, empty handed with scars of physical […]
India’s decision to scrap a financial guarantee scheme for migrant domestic workers in Oman will make it harder for maids who are abused or unpaid to get home, campaigners said on Tuesday. The Indian embassy in Oman issued a notice on Monday, saying it was scrapping the scheme because employers and recruitment agencies said it […]
The story published in Samakalika Malayalam Weekly, belonging to The New Indian Express Group, portrays the sordid tales of Indian women domestic workers who were trafficked to Gulf countries and subjected to forced labour. The story tells the sufferings of five domestic workers who suffered a lot in the foreign land and had to flee […]
After two years of hardship in Saudi, Joomaila Beevi returned to India empty handed. The 48-year-old widow now survives on what her aged parents and siblings earn. When Migrants-Rights.org met Joomaila at her thatched-roof home in Kerala, she was getting ready to travel the northern part of the state to work as a midwife and […]