Speaking Truth to Abuse: The Social Work Society of Kuwait

When Bibi Nasser Al Sabah was nine-years-old she played an innocent prank on her nanny.

Bibi told her nanny to follow her into the basement. Before she quickly ran up the stairs and closed the door behind her, Bibi switched off the lights, leaving her poor nanny in the dark. Little Bibi giggled as her nanny called for help; these tears of innocent joy turned into tears of remorse when her parents found out the cause of Bibi's laughter. After that, Bibi learned to treat her domestic staff with respect, and she grew up assuming that all Kuwaitis did the same.

It wasn’t until Bibi returned from studying in America that she noticed something peculiar. Driving with her grandmother in the...

middle of a summer day in the comfort of a luxurious car with interior cooling, Bibi looked outside the window and saw non-Kuwaiti laborers working in the scorching heat. For Bibi, this was a moment of sudden revelation. Shock jolted her from her comfortable reverie and she began to sob earnestly to her grandmother. She wanted to help these workers; but like most people in Kuwait, she didn’t know how to start.

Bibi drove around with an icebox that she filled to the brim with packaged, edible goodies for workers all over the country. She soon realized, however, that it wasn't enough. After asking around, she teamed up with her cousin, an anonymous philanthropist, who was also concerned with the plight of laborers in Kuwait, especially domestic servants. These altruistic individuals solved a number of cases by promising Kuwaiti employers personal favors in exchange for certain privileges for their employees. Although it was an upgrade from merely distributing refreshments and sandwiches to hardworking laborers, they still felt they were not reaching a sufficient number of people. As a result, the group decided to establish themselves officially, not as a team of philanthropists, but as an actual organization to help secure the rights of Kuwait’s expatriate labor force. The Social Work Society (SWS) was officially formed in 2005 with fifty members, which included ministers, businessmen, and university professors.

The SWS is primarily concerned with the safety and development of the country. Hence, it conducts ample research in fields that might trigger instability in national security, mostly by carrying out personal interviews and surveys. Among many of its charter points, the SWS conducts "studies and research in social, psychological, legal, and economic fields, the relationships of work, performance evaluation and measurement, updating and developing systems according to the needs and requirements of Kuwaiti society." The SWS points out that after the oil boom, Kuwait turned to developing its industries, trade, and construction. This meant that Kuwait had to attract labor in all these fields (particularly from Arab and Asian countries). In 2005, Kuwait had over a million expatriate laborers, half a million of them being domestic servants, with a population of citizens that averaged just a meager million.

The government of Kuwait acts as an arbitrator between workers and Kuwaiti employers. Logically, its goal should be to maintain stability of work relations, to safeguard rights, keep social peace, and the reputation of Kuwait in the international arena and Human Rights committees intact. Problems arise when national rules themselves do not uphold or secure the rights of domestic or expatriate workers. Speaking on behalf of the SWS, Bibi finds it extremely difficult to narrate examples of misconduct, mistreatment, and abuse of laborers, not because these cases do not exist, but rather, because they touch a very sensitive nerve in government policies. As just one of a myriad of examples, Bibi tells us about one case in which the SWS had to intervene to try to protect a domestic worker already mistreated by her employer from further abuse by the system. This Indonesian maid was "sold" to her sponsor's friend as a prostitute. The friend continued to exploit her personally and commercially by forcing her to lay with three to five customers a day. After reaching a point of gruesome despair, the Indonesian maid leaped out of the window of her confinement. She did not die. After her initial sponsor sent her to the Al-Razi hospital, she was told by Kuwaiti authorities that she was destined for imprisonment.

Unfortunately, there are many similar cases in which laborers have been beaten by their employers, sexually assaulted, starved, verbally attacked, and deprived of their right to their paychecks, vacations, or contact with the outside world (especially, with their families back home). Bibi talks about hospitals fully packed with ailing workers, and embassies flooding with disgruntled employees who seek refuge from inhumane working conditions. "The problem," she says, "is not with individual people, but with the law itself." Kuwaiti law allows employers to file an absconding case against a worker who runs away (even if the worker escaped inhumane working conditions, or dangers to livelihood and health). Even in cases in which Kuwaiti employers raped or physically abused their domestic staff, the judicial system will usually favor Kuwaiti citizens.

The SWS continues to treat individual cases. For example, they pay bills, Visas, and travel tickets for exploited laborers to return back to their countries. They also offer embassies, shelters, prisons, and hospitals financial assistance to provide necessities (such as mattresses, tissues, food and drinks, clothes, and so on) for laborers being held in these places. The SWS's target, however, is to change the law itself in order to make it more transparent, fair, and respectful of the rights of laborers and domestic workers. This can only be achieved through tireless lobbying, as well as through documenting the current situation and developing alternatives, or, as the SWS puts it, “conducting studies and research related to the issues, problems and interests of society as well as the emerging negative phenomena that hinder its growth, prosperity and progress”.

Bibi explains that campaigns to raise awareness and make people view domestic workers as equals will not work. She believes that "Kuwaitis will never see their servants as their equals." This is not a genetic trait that Kuwaitis are born with; rather, it is an intricate network of conditioning that allows racism and bigotry to prevail all over the country. The problem is not a handful of people who conduct evil deeds; for Bibi, the problem is the law itself that rewards citizens for their misconduct against individuals who are less privileged.

One of the greatest accomplishments of the SWS has been changing the nature of work contracts from a two-way deal to a three-way deal. Bibi explains: "In 2007, we developed a new standardized contract in collaboration with local authorities to regulate the domestic workforce. This contract is enforced by the Ministry of Interior and includes all three parties related to domestic labor: the employer, the employee and intermediaries." Before 2007, embassies and labor offices signed the contracts detailing the amount of laborers' salaries and work conditions. The SWS made sure that the laborer him or herself can now participate in the scripting and approval of the contract. Initially, this change aimed to pressure Kuwaiti employers to respect their contractual commitments. However, without severe penalties or actual repercussions, Kuwaiti employers continued to dismiss their obligations and use the law to legitimize their misconduct. Human Rights Watch (2010) noted that in 2009, "domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Ethiopia filed over 10,000 complaints about their treatment with their embassies in Kuwait."

One of the most complicated and most sensitive issues pertaining to domestic workers' rights is the concept of a "kafeel" or "sponsor." The SWS was originally committed to ending the kafeel program "so that the sponsorship is adopted directly by the Ministry of Interior, supervised by the Department of Domestic Labor, in coordination with the Immigration Office and Embassies of the workers’ countries of origin." But in 2009, Arab Times stated that "several owners of domestic labor offices in Kuwait have rejected a proposal to establish a company for the recruitment of domestic laborers from abroad, as well as the construction of a shelter for them, claiming that such moves will tarnish Kuwait's image in the international community." Bibi herself feels uncomfortable talking about the issue, saying that it is more radically complicated in reality than it appears on paper.

The growing numbers of imprisoned workers who have given birth to illegitimate children behind bars are but one example of just how complex and twisted the situation really is. As victims of rape and sexual assault, these children are not accepted either in Kuwait or in their mothers’ home countries. They grow up in jail, suffering for crimes that have been committed before their time. These children complicate the kafeel program, and embrangle Kuwait's commitment to basic human rights.

Kuwait is not only a rich country; it is a country that was formed on the nucleus of the family. The wealth derived from oil allowed the country to grow and expand its industries, trade, and international reputation. It is thus fundamental to its national security and its economic prosperity in relation to its position and contacts in the international arena to finally solve the mass of incongruities pertaining to its treatment of laborers and domestic workers. Apart from changing the law by making it more transparent and fair (that is, holding Kuwaitis accountable for contracts that they sign), Bibi believes that Kuwaiti families should return to the family nucleus. "Domestic servants are a luxury," she states passionately, "they are not a necessity." She urges mothers to raise their own children and impart tolerance and respect. Economic progress without a humane consciousness could lead the country to destruction. Like other members of the SWS, Bibi hopes for a more honorable involvement of the government in its arbitration between employers and employees. In the meantime, the SWS will continue to help Kuwait's domestic workers in any way it can.

By Nada Faris

References
Human Rights Watch (2010). Walls at Every Turn: Abuse of Migrant Domestic Workers through Kuwait’s Sponsorship System.
Arab Times (01/03/2009). Kuwait- Put off proposal to set up firm for recruiting domestic workers.

Voice for Success is a program initiated by en.v in collaboration with the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) to promote Kuwaiti civil society by giving greater visibility to local social activists. Learn more about Voice for Success on www.voiceforsuccess.envearth.com.

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This project is funded through the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). MEPI is a unique program designed to engage directly with and invest in the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). MEPI works to create vibrant partnerships with citizens to foster the development of pluralistic, participatory, and prosperous societies throughout the MENA region. MEPI partners with local, regional and international non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academic institutions, and governments. More information about MEPI can be found at: www.mepi.state.gov.