MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Human Rights Watch has slammed UAE employers on Thursday for abusing female migrant domestic workers in the country.
"In many cases, employers in the UAE and recruiting agents abuse the women who become migrant domestic workers," HRW said in the report published on its website.
The workers interviewed by the organization named passport confiscation, physical violence and home confinement as most frequent types of abuse they endured.
"Many said their employers had failed to pay the full wages due to them, had forced them to work excessively long hours without breaks or days off, or had denied them adequate food, living conditions, or medical treatment," the report added.
According to HRW, some workers were even employed in conditions that amounted to forced labor or trafficking.
Despite the fact that there are several government-funded shelters for women who are victims of sex trafficking or domestic violence, UAE authorities have not set up an official emergency shelter for domestic workers exposed to physical or psychological abuse, the human rights watchdog said.
According to the report, there are 146,000 female migrant domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates, with the majority of them coming from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia.
HRW said the UAE should ratify key international treaties, such as International Labor Organization domestic workers convention, and reform its labor law to provide effective protection to the domestic workers employed in the country
