Indentured Servitude: A Way Of Life In Gulf -- Many Foreign Workers Are Mistreated

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - When Kuwait's newspapers ran banner headlines proclaiming the emirate's return to "democracy" after parliamentary elections earlier this month, a small notice tucked deep inside the papers told a different story.

Beneath the passport photo of a young man, the caption read: "WARNING. Velan Rajah, a Sri Lankan laborer, has left his place of work and never returned. We warn anyone from hiding or employing him. People who know his whereabouts are requested to inform the nearest police station."

Indentured servitude died out in the United States almost two centuries ago, but in the oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf, it remains a way of life.

Westerners who work in the Gulf - usually in professional or highly technical positions - are paid premium wages and live in comfortable residential compounds, but they are the exception.

The vast majority of foreign workers are low-skilled or unskilled Asians and Arabs toiling for miserable wages and often living in appalling conditions with virtually no legal protection.

Before the Iraqi invasion in August 1990, Kuwait had 600,000 Kuwaiti citizens and 1.4 million foreign workers. About 1 million foreign workers left during the Iraqi occupation; after the country was liberated in February 1991, Kuwaitis vowed they never again would be so dependent on imported labor.

NUMBERS CREEP BACK UP

But already the numbers have started creeping back up. There are now an estimated 700,000 foreign workers in Kuwait.

In Saudi Arabia, the most populous state in the region, about 7 million foreign workers do the heavy lifting for 6 million Saudis. In the United Arab Emirates, foreign workers represent 70 percent of the population.

From Egypt, Yemen, the Sudan and Bangladesh come legions of construction laborers and oil-field workers. The Philippines and other east Asian countries supply taxi drivers, housemaids, waiters and hotel workers. Hundreds of thousands of East Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans also work in the service sector in jobs ranging from the menial to midlevel white collar.

Although wages are low, for most it is a chance to earn more than they could hope for at home.

The $450 a month that an Egyptian construction worker might make in Kuwait looks good against Egypt's $630 annual per-capita income. For such an opportunity, a worker will gratefully surrender his passport and virtually all of his rights to his local "sponsor."

Mansour Jebril, a 33-year-old Egyptian father of five, has been a construction worker in Kuwait for 12 years. He lives in a cramped, windowless room with six other laborers in what is known here as bachelor housing.

The kitchen consists of a sink in a janitor's closet and two hot plates in the hallway that are shared by at least 30 other men in the building. Toilets are outside.

Jebril says compared to what others have, these accommodations are "five star deluxe" and points to the working ceiling fan. In a place where summertime temperatures routinely exceed 120 degrees, it hardly would matter.

The stunning contrast between the wealth of the Kuwaitis and the poverty of their indentured servants brings a wry smile to Jebril's lips. "What can we do?" he shrugs. "In Egypt there is no work, so we must come here and work for our Arab brothers."

Manolo, 39, a Filipino auto mechanic, feels no brotherly sentiment toward his Kuwaiti boss. He came here five months ago on a contract that promised $510 a month. He says he received half that the first month, and nothing since. He walked out on the job a month ago and has taken refuge in the Philippine Embassy.

Manolo - he is afraid to give his last name - is trying to scrounge enough money for a plane ticket back to Manila, but the immediate problem is his passport. His Kuwaiti boss has offered to "sell" it back to him for $1,000.

Among the Gulf states, Kuwait has the worst reputation for mistreating its foreign workers. Its labor laws afford little protection to foreign contract workers, and virtually none to the tens of thousands of Filipinas and Sri Lankan women who work as maids.

A recent report by Middle East Watch, a human-rights group, outlined "a significant and pervasive pattern of rape, physical assault and mistreatment of Asian maids that takes place largely with impunity." The report documented numerous cases of women who attempted suicide to escape repeated instances of sexual abuse and beatings.

About 200 women have taken sanctuary in a small villa inside the fenced compound of the Philippine Embassy. They are awaiting a return flight to Manila.

Speaking through the fence - embassy officials would not allow formal interviews - the women spoke bitterly of beatings and sexual harassment that ranged from offers of money in exchange for sexual favors to outright rape.

More typical, however, were complaints of fraud and inhumane working conditions.

MANY DEALT WITH AGENTS

Many of the women dealt with agents in their home countries who promised jobs as sales clerks or hotel receptionists abroad in exchange for hefty fees. Instead, the women were placed in private homes with salaries far below what had been promised.

Erlina, one of the young women who spoke through the fence, said she handed over all of her savings to an agent who promised a $500-a-month job as a nursing assistant in Dubai. Instead she found herself in Kuwait working as a maid for $150 a month. She had no days off and lived on a diet of bread, rice and leftover vegetables.

During Kuwait's recent election campaign, candidates spoke of the need for a "Kuwaitization" plan - to make the country less reliant on foreigners. But so far the only changes have been to eliminate free health care for foreign workers and adopt a new law that makes it nearly impossible for Asian workers to bring their families to Kuwait.