Student arrested in Bahrain for criticizing treatment of workers

[qatarperegrine]

During a layover in Bahrain, a Nepali student returning home from the States happened to meet a large group of Nepali workers who were being deported from Qatar after organizing and agitating for better pay and benefits.

Upset at the disrespectful way these workers were being treated by airport staff, the student complained to Gulf Air -- and was promptly arrested, checked for blood alcohol, and detained overnight before being fined and sent on his (her?) way.

The student's blog post on the incident is here; it was later reprinted in the Kathmandu Times. I read about it in Qatar Living.

This line in particular struck me:

"He called the police and I was asked with two questions - if I was an American citizen, and whether I was holding an American passport. After my answer the way they treated me I wonder if being a Nepali was a sin. Since I was studying in the United States, the police told me that he would let me go if I made an apology to the Gulf Air staff."

Ever since my friend Andrew's brush with the law here in Doha I've had an inkling of the legal immunity conferred on me by my white skin and blue passport. It's sickening. And it makes me feel more resolved to speak out, since unlike my darker-skinned friends I'm unlikely to face arrest or deportation.

Somewhat relatedly, there is a meeting late this afternoon of a recently formed group seeking to advocate for worker rights in Doha. If anyone is interested, e-mail me for the contact info.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

You are back in Qatar! We need people like you. I followed the links, felt sad, angry and helpless, but was a little encouraged that the US State Department, (with Rice's signature!) is aware and presumably exerting pressure. But the poverty and injustice that is life for so many of the world's people could make one despair. Respect for humans, and for human rights , is up there -with not trashing the planet- on any list of moral imperatives.

[materjibrail.livejournal.com]

That was me. I hadn't logged on.

Not something new

[(Anonymous)]

we all know the human rights situation. Atleast you have a blue passport and you can raise your voice, whereas I can just write on Qatarliving. Have you ever asked your students or talked to them about this. Have you ever asked them how they treat their servants, maids. if not then you should and tell them that they are also human beings

Re: Not something new

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Last semester one of my friends taught a class on immigration issues in Doha. I sat in on several occasions, and yes, there was a great deal of discussion about how students' families treat their servants and other employees.

I think there two major shifts that need to happen. First, there needs to be more widespread realization that servants are people too. However, some percentage of the population is ALWAYS going to think of them as objects and try to exploit them -- that's true in every country. So the second shift has to be better legal protections, and severe penalties for employers who mistreat their employees.

Rules?

[(Anonymous)]

Who is going to make the rules. Everyone knows about the mistreatment of workers, from higher authorities to the bottom but what have they done about it?
They havent even changed the sponsorship system as the interior minister wants to protect the rights of Qatari businessmen. He forgot that the people working for Qatari businessmen are also human and they also have rights.
The situation was the same in 1991 when I first came here and it is still the same. It will never change.

Re: Rules?

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I am more optimistic than you. I have seen changes since I got here in 2004 -- think of the child jockeys! To me that is evidence that international pressure CAN change the human rights situation in Qatar. Thinking even more broadly, it's been less than a generation since Qatar had outright slavery. So it is making human rights progress much more quickly than the U.S. did in the 19th century!

Another reason for optimism is that the lives of workers could be profoundly improved even without any rules being changed. If the current labor law were enforced -- if there were penalties for companies that didn't pay their workers, or didn't provide adequate housing under the current law -- things would improve significantly.

Re: Rules?

[don-k-hotay.livejournal.com]

I think the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a good objective standard (agreed to by the family of nations) by which to judge the laws of any nation- in its treatment of its own citizens or citizens of other countries living or working there. This is true whether we are speaking of how Qatar treats its foreign workers or how the U S should be treating 'foreign combatants' .

The UDHR in English is found here:
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

In Arabic it is here:
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/arz.htm