A government official reported that Indian women were ‘treated worse than cattle there’. One of the women who was interviewed did not even know where she was
A big number of Indian women are facing ill-treatment in West Asia. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
India has come in the crosshairs of West Asian countries over the controversial statements of two BJP spokespersons in the last fortnight. This condemnation from countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, etc, then triggered a chain reaction, leading to up to 16 Islamic countries around the world condemning India as an ‘Islamophobic’ country. In the light of this backlash, it is important to take a look at the recent record of West Asian Islamic countries as far as slavery and racism against Indians are concerned. Their statements must be weighed in this light, and the response to the statements must address the latent hate and supremacy hidden in the condemnation.
Indian women have been trafficked to the Gulf for almost a decade, against their will and under false pretences. Indian women, who were lured to move to countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc., were promised higher pay for domestic work by agents. They did not know that they were giving up their freedom and their lives and were going to be sold as slaves in the Gulf.
In 2016, Indian women were sold for 2000-4000 GBP in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, as slaves. These women were from the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and were lured to travel to the Gulf in the hope of better pay. Experts claim that as many as 20,000 Indian women have been trapped in these countries as slaves, with no escape routes available. These women have described their living conditions as sub-human, with their human rights violated, and have often suffered physical abuse and no pay for their work. They do not have their own visa or travel documents. Indian government officials were in the process of procuring legal aid for these women, many of whom are in jails in these Gulf countries.
As per estimates by the Ministry of External Affairs, there are as many as 500,000 Indian women working as domestic workers in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman. Tightening of regulations around immigration for the purpose of work in the Gulf countries (in 2014) has opened up the illegal route in a much bigger way, and Indian women from weak economic backgrounds seek to immigrate through agents who then sell these women to their clients. Many of these women were not allowed to use phones, forced to work for 18 hours without breaks, not paid, with their legal documents seized. Some women are also expected to grant sexual favours to their employers.
A government official reported that Indian women were “treated worse than cattle there”. One of the women who was interviewed did not even know where she was. Some, who are fortunate, seek help from social help groups in these countries who try to get them aid.
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Stories have emerged of these cases of exploitation, sexism, and blatant violation of human rights of women from states all across India — Gujarat, Punjab, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc. Many of these women sell their property or belongings to raise money to go to the Gulf. They lose everything in the expectation of higher pay, and a dream of working outside India.
But this is not all. The slave trade has metastasized into an even more evil form — slave trading on social media platforms and websites. In 2019, the BBC reported that Instagram and Facebook were being used in the Arab countries to sell women as slaves. Negotiations happened over private messages. As per the report, many illegal listings were still available on tech platforms like Google and Apple, while some were removed by Facebook. People were found selling their domestic workers on a popular app called “4Sale,” which allowed the user to filter domestic workers based on race, with different price brackets. One of the sellers described Indians thus: “Indians are the dirtiest,” while speaking to an undercover journalist team.
Women were not only sold on these platforms but they were also sold as a commodity. There were users who would “buy” a domestic worker for $2,000 and sell her for $3,000. They seize all passports, violate their free will, and the woman is reduced to an object to be traded.
This is not distant history. These are incidents from the last five years. This is not a case of one woman being wronged. This is a case of blatant violation of every human right and exploitation of thousands of Indian women, and of obvious derision for them due to their nationality — Indian.
Seen in this light, the statements from West Asian countries on the disrespect of Prophet Mohammed, the lack of response from the MEA to this “condemnation”, and some threats (like by Al Qaeda) are hard to swallow for self-respecting Indians who do not want their country to kowtow to West Asian countries. Economic ties can be preserved while showing a spine. Trade deals can be closed based on mutual economic benefit. The MEA must speak, and act, and must do it before it is too little, too late. The citizens of India must be reassured that India will not bend in front of countries which sell Indian women as slaves and commodities.
The writer is the author of ‘Cownomics’ and director of the non-profit Ishittva. Views expressed are personal.
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