Recently, the United Nations (UN), in a twist even M Night Shyamalan
would find absurd, awarded Saudi Arabia a key position on the UN Human
Rights Council.
PHOTO: AFP
This is because many, though certainly not all Saudis we encountered, looked upon foreigners as if they were insolent slaves. From interactions in the neighborhood, workplace, shops, and more, the Saudi disdain for foreigners was pretty clear.
With Saudi media towing the Kingdom line, it was only through word of mouth that we learnt of expatriate girls, women, boys, and boyish looking men escaping capture from Saudi groups. These gangs often travelled in hulking SUVs that sported tinted black windows, and would usually take their victims out into the middle of the desert to assault them sexually.
I myself evaded a child molester, when my childhood friend and I were followed by a big bellied man with a large beard who tried to bribe us with money and candy. This monster regularly prowled the neighbourhood for a few weeks.
In my blog, ‘In Saudi Arabia, Oil will always be thicker than blood,’ I wrote about other such disturbing events.
One person we knew left Saudi Arabia merely six months after moving there with his family. A few days close to his arrival, a maid had been found lying dead on a balcony near his house, undoubtedly the victim of her employers. This family friend was in his mid-20s though still looked like he was 15, which is probably why he was targeted constantly by Saudi men. Growing a thin moustache did little to deter their advances, and he gave up his attractive salary and left the unattractive country.
If it was bad for middle class expatriates, it was infinitely worse for blue collar workers. The further down the economic class you were, the more easily a prey you became for a local. A Sri Lanka man working as a house cleaner would tell me tales from Saudi houses he worked at, where Filipino, Sri Lankan, Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani maids were easy victims for lecherous Saudi men, and would share their sorrow with him. These women from poor economic backgrounds had few options of escape, especially with their passports locked away with the very men who targeted them.
The Sri Lankan worker, who was a good man, and became a friend, would explain how while cycling home from work at night he would regularly be followed by Saudi men driving around in large petrol chugging vehicles. I believed him, because it was a similar story for me, when returning home at night from a game of cricket.
Since my departure and the explosion of the internet, stories of Saudi human rights violations, especially against maids, have become very public. Away from their countries, these women are raped, sexually assaulted, accused of stealing, pinned for crimes of murder, and worse. Report after report expands on how these poor women are beheaded with alarming regularity in Saudi Arabia.
I heard some terrible incidents during my time in the Kingdom, but the recent report of a poor Indian maid abused by her Saudi employer is blood curling. At the age of 58, she began working in Riyadh three months ago. To her dismay, she was not being paid, was facing abuse, and was being denied full meals. Obviously, this household, much like so many others in Saudi Arabia, assumed that they had bought a slave rather than hired an employee.
Upset, Kasthuri went and complained to the police. When she came back, her employers reacted how any owner would behave when their slave would dare humiliate them. Tragically, they taught her a terrible lesson, by chopping off her arm.
It is difficult to come to terms with this woman’s ordeal. Thankfully, her embassy is coming to her aid.
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