UAE- Tanzanian domestic workers in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face excessive working hours, unpaid salaries, and physical and sexual abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Abusive visa-sponsorship rules in those countries and gaps in Tanzania’s policies leave the women exposed to exploitation.
The 100-page report, “‘Working Like a Robot’: Abuse of Tanzanian Domestic Workers in Oman and the United Arab Emirates,” documents how the Tanzanian, Omani, and UAE governments fail to protect Tanzanian migrant domestic workers. Oman and the UAE’s kafala – visa-sponsorship – rules tie workers to their employers, and the lack of labor law protections leaves workers exposed to a wide range of abuse. Gaps in Tanzania’s laws and policies on recruitment and migration leave Tanzanian women exposed at the outset to abuse and fail to provide adequate assistance for exploited workers
Most domestic workers in the Gulf states are Asian, many from Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. As these countries have incrementally increased protections and minimum salary requirements to protect their domestic workers – and in some cases banned recruitment to the Gulf entirely – recruiters are increasingly turning to East Africa, where protections are weaker. Gulf employers often get away with paying East African workers far less than those from other countries. Thousands of Tanzanian domestic workers are in the Middle East. While some have decent working conditions, many others face abuse. Human Rights Watch interviewed 87 people, including Tanzanian officials, trade unionists, recruitment agents, and 50 Tanzanian female domestic workers who worked in Oman or the UAE. Half the domestic workers were from mainland Tanzania, and the other half from Zanzibar, the country’s semi-autonomous island region.
Almost all said their employers and agents confiscated their passports. Many worked long hours, up to 21 hours a day without rest or a day off. They said they were paid less than promised or not at all, were forced to eat spoiled or left-over food, shouted at and insulted daily, and physically and sexually abused. Some of these cases amount to forced labor or trafficking into forced labor. They had little recourse for leaving abusive working conditions.
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