The Hidden Violence

CNN: Doctors remove nail allegedly hammered into maid by employers

This article brought up a lot of reactions in myself when I read it.  In summary, it discusses the plight of a Sri Lankan maid who underwent surgery to remove 18 nails that had been hammered into her arms, legs, and forehead, allegedly by her Saudi employers.  The woman was a registered domestic employee in Saudi Arabia.

The article reflects (sadly) much of the news I encountered over the summer in the course of my research in Nepal.  About once a week there would be an article in at least one paper, usually on the front page, detailing the plight Nepali workers faced abroad.  What Americans, desperate to protect 'their' jobs from foreigners, may not realize is the actual practice of migration worldwide.  The largest region for employing migrant workers?  The Gulf countries (particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait).  The majority of workers come from South Asia.

People in the US argue about laws being too protective of these types of workers (typically portrayed in the US as illegals).  However, would Americans really want to live in a country where this type of abuse is common?  Rarely this summer did I encounter an article about the benefits of Nepalis working abroad.  The vast majority detailed the situation of an individual, abused sometimes to the point of full disability.

Sadly, this abuse is all too common, and people in the Western world know nothing about it.  To the West's credit, news mostly focuses on local and national events, and international events only when it is relevant to the country as a whole.

I will say, there are other international issues that get attention that deal with human rights- Darfur and Burma to name a couple.  However, those are few and far between, and usually brought to the spotlight by celebrity attention.

Where is the attention for these workers, who are forced to leave their countries due to a lack of opportunities in order to provide for their families?  Sadly, this is one important issue that gets left out of a lot of discourse on human rights.

In searching Human Rights Watch's website, if one wants to find articles related to migrant workers, they have to be searched for specifically.  Many of the articles in the 'Workers, Forced Labor & Trafficking' section focus on issues of human trafficking.  Finding articles on abuse and/or exploitation of legal migrant workers requires a dedicated search on the subject.  Casual viewers of the website looking for recent topics of interest will not find this.  It is therefore difficult to bring this issue to light when even human rights workers keep it in the back of the closet.