Kuwait: Filipinos being molested every day in Kuwait. 115 DISTRESSED maids fly home to the Philippines. and news articles about Kuwait maltreatment of Filipina maids

 Updated July 23, 2013

Militant group: ‘OFWs in Kuwait abused everyday’

 http://www.dzrh.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=630%3Amilitant-group-ofws-in-kuwait-abused-everyday&catid=45%3Ametro&Itemid=106

A militant group revealed the number of Overseas Filipino Workers victimized by abusive Kuwaiti’s in their country.

According to John Leonard Montenora, vice chairman of Migrante International, two out of three Filipinos are being molested every day in Kuwait.

Based on the report, Filipinos who are being deported back in the country, were the common victims of Kuwaiti police.

Despite this, Monterona appealed to the government and international community to conduct an investigation regarding the abuse of OFWs in Kuwait.
(Luisito Antonio Santos)

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Our non-profit  blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who left her newborn baby – with placenta still attached – at the Bahrain Gulf Air airplane toilet - upon landing in Manila, read her story here lhttp://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/this-blog-was-inspired-by-filipina.html.  Her despair and desperation inspired this blog to gather all possible stories in order to help, to inform and to empower all Filipina nannies, caregivers and maids -- to liberate themselves from abuses of all forms:  physical, rape, verbal, exploitation, overtime working without pay....  Send us your stories.  Stay anonymous - if you like.  (No one can afford to deny this matter anymore).  Write in Tagalog, or your dialect, or English, or French, or any language.  ALL nannies, caregivers and domestic maids are welcome, send your stories to  mangococonutmay1@gmail.com

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115 distressed maids fly home to the Philippines

  OFWs seen beaming with happiness, excitement 

KUWAIT CITY, April 13: A total of 115 distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were repatriated to the Philippines on Tuesday evening as part of the series of mass repatriation of stranded OFWs in Kuwait.

Philippine Embassy and Philippine Overseas Labour Office officials and staff led by Vice Consul Sheila Monedero and Labour Attache Vivo Vidal respectively as well as Welfare Officers Yolanda Penaranda and Atty William Merginio were at the airport to see them off. Members of the Alpha Phi Omega Kuwait Alumni Association 153 (APO-KAA 153) led by its President Noel Amador were also there to assist them during their check-in at the airport.

Most of the distressed OFWs worked as household service workers who were victims of nonpayment of salaries, fatigue, lack of food, physical, verbal and sexual abuse prompting them to escape from their employers and seek temporary refuge at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jabriya.

The distressed OFWs beamed with happiness and excitement as they checked in at the airport. “I’m very happy that I will be with my family again and we would like to thank the Kuwaiti government and the Philippine embassy for helping us go home,” stated Helen who escaped from her employer due to physical abuse.

Labor Attache Vidal disclosed to the Arab Times that the airfare of most of those repatriated was shouldered by the respective manpower agencies of the distressed OFWs as a result of the collaboration between the Philippine Embassy and the Kuwait Ministry of Interior while some of the tickets were shouldered by the Kuwaiti government and some individuals.

“This is a part of our continuous repatriation program. This is our second batch of repatriation since March. It was accelerated because the procedures were made easier for us especially during this amnesty period. With the help and cooperation of the Ministry of Interior all their necessary travel documents were processed and they went straight from the embassy to the airport without passing through the ‘Talha’ or deportation center, “stated Vidal. He thanked HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah for the kindness and generosity extended by the Kuwait government to the stranded OFWs.

Currently, there are still 175 distressed OFWs temporarily housed at the FWRC who are awaiting repatriation. Vidal vowed that under the leadership of Philippine Ambassador Shulan Primavera and in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior they will try their best to repatriate everyone.

Meanwhile, Vice Consul Monedero urged all OFWs who have been overstaying in Kuwait with no iqama or residence permit to avail of the amnesty program given by the Kuwaiti government from March 1 to June 30. “This is their chance to go home to the Philippines without paying qarama or fine or if they want to regularize their residence status, they just have to pay the stipulated fine.”

Let’s not waste this opportunity as we have been informed that the Kuwaiti immigration authorities will be very strict in implementing the residency law after the amnesty period is finished,” she stressed.

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By: Michelle Fe Santiago

 Some of the Filipino maids at Kuwait Airport Tuesday evening

Comments

totally agreeGeri | 4/14/2011 11:19:51 PM  amnesty is not the solution of this problem! as far as the sponsorship wont abolish their will be more and thousand of distress expat not only visa 18 or 20, specially those victim of perfect set up of crime absconding! if they dont want to abolish sponsorship, they should abolish absconding cases, the procedure should be chance as we know kuwait can chance there law and rules everyday but why cant do this in absconding and sponsorship system, absconder should not be detained just to prove his/ her innocent, the employer should informed the employee or the employee should have the right to update his/her status without being detained in police station! because absconder is not a criminal !!! some of them are been set up!!! even they give monthly amnesty there will be still illegal if they wont abolish the sponsorship system...

Understand the issueExcalibur | 4/14/2011 11:37:43 AM  The reason for these workers to be distressed should be made as a lesson. This is not the issue of the King giving amnesty, this is about the rights of a human being. Why do they have to wait till the King gives amnesty? Justice must be understood & practised. =================================================== Philippines Ambassador to Kuwait denies ‘raping maid’   http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/189741/reftab/96/Default.aspx KUWAIT CITY, Nov 7, (Agen-cies): Philippines Ambassador to Kuwait Shulan Primavera Wednesday denied on TV Patrol, the Philippines primetime news of ABS-CBN the rape allegations made by a Filipina runaway maid who worked in his household for eight months. The Filipina ward named Mabel, who is now in the Philippines, said on the national TV that the Ambassador allegedly sexually harassed her when his partner went home to the Philippines for vacation. Primavera, who was fuming mad, denied all the allegations on TV and pointed that these were all lies. He cited that his predecessor had a hand in this machination. He added that it is purely and obviously a ‘demolition job’ against him by his predecessor. “Jesus Christ, that’s a lie. I will not do that. It’s not true that there was an instance that we were involved in an indecent act,” Primavera was heard as saying on the TV. The news stated that Mabel has already signed an affidavit and is determined to pursue a case against Primavera. She is set to file a formal complaint against the Ambassador with the help of the Blas Ople Foundation. Meanwhile, Primavera said that in his capacity will not allow his 40 years of public service to be tarnished by his former housemaid’s allegations. =========================================== ‘Maltreated’ Filipina household service worker flies home    KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: After spending more than three weeks at the Al Razi Orthopedic Hospital due to a fractured right foot and sprained leg after jumping off the second floor of her employer’s home, the Filipina household service worker who was allegedly maltreated by her Kuwaiti female employer finally went home last Saturday. Margie Pontillas, 33, a native of Carmen, Davao in Southern Philippines, could barely move in her bed at ward 3 of Al Razi Orthopedic Hospital when the Arab Times visited her on July 31.The bite marks of her employer’s teeth on her left arm were just starting to heal while her right forefinger also bitten by her lady employer was still swollen. Her nose bore a small scar after her employer hit her with a laddle while bruises dotted her body. Pontillas thanked the Arab Times for publishing her appeal for help. Upon her discharge from the hospital, Philippine Embassy and POLO-OWWA officials took her to the Filipino Workers Resource Centre (FWRC) in Faiha where she stayed for three days before her repatriation to the Philippines last Saturday. “Thank God I’m going home. I would like to thank the POLO-OWWA staff, Ma’am Fatima, Ma’am Rose, Ma’am Nor, to Labour Attache Dicang, Sir Joey, Sir Larry and also to the embassy to Sir Mar and their treasurer and also to the Shaheen Agency to Ma’am Beth, Sir Naif and Sir Waleed, thank you very much,” she beamed while being ushered into the check-in area on a wheelchair. Pontillas who can walk but with difficulty using a cane had to be put on a wheelchair on her way to the pre-departure area. Pontillas also thanked her manpower agency in the Philippines for constantly following up her case and expediting her repatriation. “I would like to thank Ma’am Estrelita Hizon for the big help she has extended to my family especially to my children. She has been very kind and generous,” she stated. Pontillas arrived in Kuwait on February 2, 2011 and worked for a Kuwaiti household, however, after more than a year, she had to leave her first employer after they refused to grant her a salary advance to pay the hospitalisation of her mother in the Philippines. She was returned to the agency and she was given to her second employer where she was allegedly verbally and physically abused by her lady employer. Despite of the traumatic experience that she had gone through, Pontillas being a single mother, pointed out that she still plans to work abroad but not in Kuwait anymore to support her five children. “I will just recuperate for a few months and once I’m fully well, I will try to apply again somewhere else. I need to work for my kids,” she stated as she waved goodbye to Welfare Officer Norlita Lugtu, Philippine Embassy Assistance to Nationals Unit Officer Muamar Hassan and other POLO-OWWA staff who sent her off the airport. By: Michelle Fe Santiago Special to the Arab Times ========================================================== Domestics’ salary hike eyed - Philippine team to visit Kuwait     http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/189122/reftab/96/Default.aspx KUWAIT CITY, Oct 19: A government delegation from Philippines will arrive in Kuwait soon to discuss the salary ceiling for Filipino domestic workers, reports Alam Al-Youm daily. The daily explained the Filipino domestic workers are currently paid KD 80 per month and the delegation during the visit will press for KD 40 increment to raise their salaries to KD 120. The daily noted the visit has been requested by some seven Kuwaiti domestic labor offices for the delegation to meet state officials here to discuss the current minimum amount salary for Filipino domestic workers. Comment WHO MONITORSrobert littlewood | 10/20/2012 5:00:03 PM so a team is coming to discuss salarys for maids but how many girls run away because they dont get paid so you can talk all you want but there is no gaurentee they will be paid anyway as we have seen so often what give's people the right to not pay there staff for there hard work talk is cheap actions speak loader than words  Similar Stories         Expats say salary raise will help send home more money Manila recalls embassy official ‘Labor’ mulls domestics shift to private sector within 3 months Most domestic workers do not enjoy rights: ILO chief Domestic visa transfer eyed Alarm over Ethiopian domestics KD 250 salary ok to bring in family US team visits Kuwait’s safe house for domestic workers Lady sponsor said to be rude, abusive Rights group concerned about suicides by maids ‘Sign MoU with Indonesia to lift domestics ban’ ‘Maltreated’ Filipina household service worker flies home Firm to ‘recruit domestic workers’ MoU on domestics still awaited as number of Indonesian expats plunges Visa transfer for domestics will not be allowed beyond Nov 1 Kuwait hit by shortage of maids Transfer open for domestic workers visa to private Seventy distressed HSWs repatriated to Philippines Immigration chief denies reports tied to domestics Wage hikes cast doubt on sustainability US team visits Kuwait’s safe house for domestic workers ‘Govt serious in protecting rights of migrant workers’  KUWAIT CITY, Sept 29, (KUNA): A delegation from the US State Department accompanied by Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs at Kuwait Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor Jamal Al-Dosari toured Saturday Kuwait’s safe house for domestic workers to review the Gulf nation’s latest achievements in this file. In a press statement, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour said that Al-Dosari has made a presentation for the US about the potential of the house in terms of food supplies, social, health and recreational services which go in line with the international standards. Al-Dosari also informed the US delegation that the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health, Social Affairs and labor will have representatives in the house to follow up the applications of the standards and offer help for the workers. The statement said that the delegation member Mark Taylor, of the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, has expressed satisfaction with what he saw in the house and the Kuwaiti efforts to meet all the international conventions in this regard. It also quoted Taylor as saying that the Kuwaiti government is serious in protecting the rights of migrant workers. The house will host migrant workers who face problems till the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour verify their legal status and give them their full rights. Most domestic workers do not enjoy rights: ILO chief     http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/192445/reftab/96/Default.aspx KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Director of International Labor Organization (ILO) of Kuwait Thabet Al-Haroun announced the release of a detailed report by the organization concerning domestic workers throughout the world, saying there were over 52 million domestic workers in the year 2010 out of which 83 percent are women, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. Citing from the report, Al-Haroun said several domestic workers are deprived of protection and over 23 percent are not covered by the labor laws in their respective countries of abode while 45 percent among them do not enjoy weekends or annual paid leaves, adding that one-third of female domestic workers do not obtain maternity protection. Al-Haroun indicated that the number of domestic workers increased by 19 million from the mid-1990s until the year 2010, while majority of them migrated to foreign countries. He did not rule out the possibility that minor domestic workers under age 15 were included in the data, revealing that the ILO estimates the domestic child labor to have reached 7.4 million in 2008. Kuwait hit by shortage of maids Domestic labour market faces deficiencies: Al-Ali  KUWAIT CITY, July 27: Former chairperson of the Federation of Kuwaiti Owners of Domestic Labor Offices (FKODLO) Abdulaziz Al-Ali says the local market is facing deficiencies with regard to domestic labour personnel, reports Al-Jareeda daily. He also said Kuwait is lacking domestic workers because their countries of origin compel her to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in order to protect the rights of their nationals before sending them here. Al-Ali stressed on the need to pass laws to control the procedure of transferring domestic workers from one sponsor to another, and noted the labor offices would be the first to respect such laws if they are approved. He added the labor offices face many problems because there are no specific mechanisms to transfer domestic workers from one sponsor to another, and besides the high cost involved in keeping them. He denied allegations that the labor offices are responsible for trafficking in people and assured people working in those offices grant the workers all their rights because the issue relates to the reputation of Kuwait while the human rights organizations are watching. He implored officials from the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs to deal with the matter well and take into consideration the memorandum of understanding required by some countries before bringing the domestic workers to Kuwait, particularly because some of them have stopped sending their nationals to Kuwait. Comments TO SLOWrobert littlewood | 10/15/2012 3:31:06 PM  if kuwait wants more workers they have to protect them more and more countrys will ban workers from coming here until they are black listed every where there are some good people in kuwiat been let down by cruel cowardly sponsors who beat rape and mistreat house maids it only takes one apple to spoil the barrel these laws the other country's want in place befor they lift the ban wont go away so do it show them you care and start swift punishment for those who maltreat workers this might help lift the ban its every body human right to work without fear. Rights group concerned about suicides by maids Issue portrays Kuwait in bad light   http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/187381/reftab/96/t/Rights-group-concerned-about-suicides-by-maids/Default.aspx KUWAIT CITY, Aug 31: Human Rights Association has expressed its deepest concern over the increasing number of suicides committed by domestic workers, reports Al-Seyassah daily. It stressed that this issue has become a serious concern for all human rights agencies and indicates the violations that the domestic workers go through in this nation. It indicated that in spite of the regular occurrence of such incidents, the government has not made an appropriate move to determine the reason behind such incidents and to find solutions, adding that this issue has portrayed a bad image of Kuwait internationally, depicting it as a country that does not respect human dignity and rights. It demanded the enactment of domestic labor law and human trafficking law as soon as possible in a bid to protect the rights of domestic workers from violations, as well as the rights of their sponsors and offices that import domestic workers. It emphasized on the need for the concerned authorities to coordinate with the related civil societies to carry out necessary investigations and to determine the reason why domestic workers resolve to suicide, which could be due to rape or physical humiliation. It also stressed the importance of imposing punishment without bias on anyone who violated the law and public order. Comment: stop this robert littlewood | 10/20/2012 3:17:01 PM  human rights are concerned about the amount of suicide's in the nation's but what are they doing just talking about it if kuwait wasn't a oil producing nation there would be sanctions against them but no they just air there opinions noone is concerned about this these story's are a everyday occerance in kuwait but what torture does this house maid go throu to the point she decide's thats enough it must be pure hell to end there young life's leaving there children and familys crying in agony at the loss of there loved one's who left there home's to better there life's only to end up in the hands of brutal people who beat.rape maltreat them to this point so stop talking about it and do something stop letting oil rule your head and decission's next time it could be your daughter then you would of wished you had acted Alarm over Ethiopian domestics    KUWAIT CITY, Oct 20: Owners of offices, which recruit housemaids from Ethiopia, have complained about the Ethiopian Embassy’s alleged failure to solve several issues concerning the housemaids, reports Al-Anba daily quoting sources. Sources revealed the embassy has closed its doors on housemaids who escaped from their sponsors; giving them no option but to roam around the streets. Sources said several domestic labor offices have expressed disappointment over the embassy’s inability to play its role efficiently; thereby, making the housemaids, sponsors and offices lose their rights. Sources added the owners of domestic labor offices and the Kuwaiti sponsors often engage in heated arguments due to their failure to determine the whereabouts of absconding housemaids. Sources said the absconding Ethiopian housemaids are often seen roaming around the streets in different parts of the country because their embassy does not provide them with a suitable shelter. Sources revealed more than 700 Ethiopian housemaids are said to be roaming around — a phenomenon which might spread contagious diseases and lead to dire consequences especially if some of them decide to return to their sponsors. The owners of domestic labor offices called for the intervention of the embassy to address the problem and to protect the rights of all parties. They warned the embassy must take into consideration the rising rate of crimes committed against housemaids, in addition to the human rights issues raised against Kuwait due to this phenomenon which has tarnished the image of the country in the international community. They argued the problem has worsened due to the absence of proper administration procedures in the embassy and its failure to abide by the stipulations of the contracts they signed with the domestic labor offices. They also urged the embassy to immediately take the necessary measures to protect the rights of all parties involved — the housemaids, their sponsors and the domestic labor offices. ============= Sunday, January 1, 1995 A Death Sentence for a Young Filipino Maid Highlights the Problem of Abuse of Asian Servants Time 1995 MICHAEL S. SERRILL REPORTED BY SCOTT MACLEOD/AL-AIN AND NELLY SINDAYEN/MANILA MANY WHO KNOW HER SAY SARAH Balabagan is sweetly innocent, a child quite unprepared for the cruel situation she faced in a strange land, more than 7,000 km from home. Only 15, barely able to read or write, and unwise to the ways of the world, says her mother, she felt driven by a single ambition: to rescue her family from the poverty and hunger of their life in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. So 17 months ago, she defied her parents' wishes and, after lying about her age, flew to the United Arab Emirates' sheikdom of Abu Dhabi to work as a domestic servant. But Balabagan's dream of fortune and adventure was a mirage that dissolved into a bleak reality. Last month she was sentenced to death by firing squad for stabbing her employer after he allegedly raped her. The case caused an international uproar. Human-rights and women's groups from Berlin to Kuala Lumpur joined Philippine President Fidel Ramos in showering the U.A.E. government with protests and appeals for clemency. Women demanding Sarah's freedom marched daily outside the U.A.E. embassy near Manila. All the protests, however, had an impact. Sheik Zayed bin Sultan an-Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikdoms, intervened in the case, and late last week the victim's family agreed to settle for compensation in the form of the payment of an undisclosed amount of "blood money"--an age-old Bedouin method of solving disputes among clans. The Islamic court then revoked the death sentence against the girl. Despite the settlement, the case cast a spotlight on a dark practice throughout the Arabian peninsula: an almost medieval system of servitude that each year turns thousands of young women from underdeveloped Asian countries into virtual slaves for prosperous Arab families. The women are frequently lured to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the lesser emirates and sultanates by shady "employment agents" who offer them attractive-sounding jobs at relatively high pay. Once there, they learn that much of the money they initially earn--the going rate is $100 to $150 a month--goes to pay for their airfare and the employment agent's fee. Worse, the maids find themselves in virtual bondage to their employers, who almost without exception confiscate the servants' passports to prevent them from walking out before fulfilling their typical two-year contract. It is common for the maids to be forced to work from dawn to midnight, seven days a week. Often they are fed scraps and leftovers, are beaten and verbally abused and, in the worst cases, raped and murdered. Only in the most egregious instances is an employer ever charged with sexual abuse or assault. The maids suffer their indentured servitude with government sanction: those who flee their assigned households are breaking the Persian Gulf states' immigration laws. Nevertheless, thousands of the maids run away every year. On any given day hundreds crowd the gulf embassies of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India, the nations from which most of the women are hired. The region's history of maid abuse, dating back to the 1970s when foreign workers began flooding to the peninsula, is such that few observers were surprised when details of the Balabagan case emerged. When she arrived in Abu Dhabi, Sarah was sent to Al-Ain, a remote oasis town, and placed in the home of Almas Mohammed Baloushi, a Bedouin who had earned a comfortable retirement after reportedly working in the security detail at Sheik Zayed's Al-Ain palace. The young woman quickly found herself fending off Baloushi's sexual advances. He would squeeze her breasts, she says, or grab her between the legs. He offered her gold jewelry in exchange for her virginity. A pious Muslim, she fled. She got no help from her Filipino employment agent, who allegedly locked her in a goat pen until she agreed to go back. On May 22, 1994, by Balabagan's account, Baloushi lured her into his bedroom, put a kitchen knife to her throat and raped her. After she had escaped his grasp, she picked the knife up off the floor and stabbed him 34 times. At her first trial, an Islamic judicial panel found her guilty of manslaughter and sentenced her to seven years in prison, while ordering her family to pay 150,000 dirhems ($50,000) in blood money. The court also found, however, that she had been raped, and ordered the Baloushi family to pay her family 100,000 dirhems. After the Philippine government protested this confusing verdict (If she was assaulted, officials asked, why wasn't the homicide justified as self-defense?), Sheik Zayed ordered a new trial. But the result was a harsh surprise: the second set of judges found no evidence of rape, convicted Balabagan of premeditated murder and sentenced her to death. Since then the case has become a subject of widespread protest and high-flying diplomacy. President Ramos has been in frequent touch with Sheik Zayed over the matter. Philippine Foreign and Labor department officials have flown to Abu Dhabi several times to plead for yet another trial or executive clemency. Sarah's family--flown all-expenses-paid to the gulf by the Philippine government--presented a birth affidavit, which gives her age as 16 and too young for capital punishment. (She is 28 according to her working papers.) Balabagan owes this vigorous advocacy by her government to the unfortunate fate of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino maid sentenced to death for a double murder last year in Singapore. Opposition groups in Manila charged that the Ramos government did not do enough to defend Contemplacion--there was evidence that she may have been framed by her employer--and she was duly hanged last March. This time the government spared no effort to prevent another execution, and Philippine officials were convinced that they could save Balabagan. "No Filipino has ever been executed here," said Roy Seneres, Philippine ambassador to the U.A.E., "and I don't think Sarah will be the first. The case for self-defense is very strong." But Balabagan's reprieve will not alleviate conditions for the hundreds of thousands of other Asian maids who labor there, for the contract-labor system that took her to Abu Dhabi is well entrenched, and neither Arab nor Asian governments have much incentive to change it. The oil-rich but underpopulated gulf states need workers, and the Asian nations that send the domestic workers need the foreign exchange they send back to their families. The majority of male Asian expatriates in the peninsula, who work as computer programmers, hotel managers, road builders and at many semiskilled jobs, suffer little or no abuse. But household servants are a special case because they are not protected by labor laws. "These maids don't exist in the law," says Father Estanislao Soria, a Filipino Roman Catholic priest in Kuwait. "That is the root of the evil. They are here, but they don't exist." One measure of the level of abuse comes from London, where an organization called Kalayaan says it has aided some 4,000 domestic workers who since 1987 have fled from their gulf Arab masters while they were visiting or residing in Britain. Kalayaan interviewed 755 of the women: 88% complained of name-calling and verbal abuse, 38% of beatings. A shocking 55% said they were not paid regularly, while 42% were denied a bed to sleep in, and 10% had been raped. SOME OF THE WORST TALES OF ABUSE have come out of Kuwait, a country that has moved closer to the West since it was liberated by U.N. forces from Iraqi occupation in 1991. The Philippine and Sri Lankan embassies in Kuwait City are constantly jammed with women complaining of ill-treatment at the hands of Kuwaiti employers. This year 2,100 of the 23,000 Filipino maids employed in Kuwait have sought refuge in the embassy-and many more who do not flee are also abused, according to human-rights workers. Says a report on Kuwait by Human Rights Watch, which was submitted to last month's international women's conference in Beijing: "Our investigation found that in a significant portion of households there exists a pattern of rape, physical assault and mistreatment of Asian maids that takes place largely with impunity." Women who have taken refuge inside the Sri Lankan embassy in Kuwait City provide graphic evidence of the problem. Fatima, 21, a Muslim woman from Kurunegala, Sri Lanka, has to communicate by means of pencil and paper. Her tongue is stuck to the roof of her mouth--a psychological reaction, doctors say, to the trauma she suffered when an employment agent who eased her passage to Kuwait allegedly raped her. The embassy contacted the police, who had a physician examine Fatima. He concluded she was still a virgin, which means the employment broker is unlikely to be charged. Maryham, 25, a married woman with a husband and child in Sri Lanka, resides in the embassy with her one-year-old daughter, progeny, she says, of her employer's son, who allegedly raped her. After the child was born and Maryham accused the son, she was held in the hospital by police for eight months while they investigated. In the end, the son denied responsibility, and the police believed him. Maryham, who has lived in the embassy for six months, is fearful of working for another Kuwaiti family, but equally scared to return to Sri Lanka, where she will probably be shunned by both her husband and community because of the alleged rape. The cases do not have to be extreme to be wrenching. Thusary, 26, from Anuradapura, Sri Lanka, complained that she was paid irregularly to work from early morning until late at night, watching a Kuwaiti family's children and cleaning house. Then she was forced to work at the wife's beauty salon for no compensation. Punishment for perceived slights, she says, was a hard punch in the stomach from her employer's wife. On the fourth punch, Thusary ran away. "I want to go back to Sri Lanka," she says bitterly. "I hate it here. They are rich, and we are poor, so they treat us like animals." While many horror stories come out of Kuwait, Asian diplomats say that maid abuse is equally bad in Saudi Arabia, the biggest and wealthiest of the sheikdoms, but the repressive government in Riyadh succeeds in hushing up the scandals. The Philippine government reports that of the 43,000 Filipino maids working in Saudi Arabia, about 4,000 seek their embassy's assistance each year. So far in 1995, 1,022 maids have sought shelter at the Philippine embassy in Riyadh alone; 11 of them alleged they were raped. Those who file formal rape charges are held in prison while an investigation is conducted; not surprisingly, few file. Some of the explanation for the mistreatment of Asian maids is a clash of cultures. The maids may dress and act less modestly than is the custom in conservative gulf societies and therefore be written off as loose women, and treated as such. For their part, Arab employers, particularly those with limited education, sometimes conclude that they own their domestic servants. This is particularly true of uneducated men who are nonetheless affluent enough to afford household help. "These kinds of people exist," says Ali al Baghli, a member of the Kuwait national assembly's human-rights committee. "They lack the education that might have taught them how to treat their servants, but they have enough money to hire them. They think that slavery still exists." Far from pledging to address the problem of domestic-servant abuse, government officials in the gulf countries tend to minimize it. "Let me be frank with you," said Brigadier Ahmad al Wahib, Kuwait's immigration chief. "There are some cases of abuse. But it is not nearly as big as is being publicized. In general, we don't have human-rights violations." A senior Kuwaiti official issued a stern admonition to complaining governments. "I have one suggestion for the countries who send these girls over here: 'Keep them home.' This has become a nightmare for us." Not surprisingly, gulf Arabs were contemptuous of the international effort to free Sarah Balabagan. "Should we give her a rose for killing this man?" asked Al Shuruk, a newspaper in Dubai, another U.A.E. principality. "As Arabs and Muslims, we are always condemned as suspects. They are not allowing us to apply our own laws." In fact, the gulf Arabs are being asked only to apply their laws equally to their foreign guest workers. To their credit, some are doing so. Abu Dhabi officials point out that one of the eight people executed in recent years was a policeman convicted of raping his maid. Instances of conspicuous leniency, however, are much easier to find. Last month a Kuwaiti court convicted a woman of beating her Filipino maid to death. Her sentence: five years in prison. --Reported by Scott MacLeod/Al-Ain and Nelly Sindayen/Manila http://www.time.com/time/international/1995/951023/justice.html .