The Lebanese government should investigate the deaths of eight migrant domestic workers during October, 2009, as well as the reasons for the disproportionately high death rate among this group of workers.

The Libyan government should investigate allegations of sexual harassment in a state-run residence for women who had been orphaned instead of charging the journalist who reported the story with criminal defamation.

As a feminist and as an American working on immigration policy, I have a clear line in the sand when it comes to the treatment of women who immigrate to this country: “defending our borders” should not be at the expense of defending our values. But when I interviewed women in immigration detention facilities all over the country last year and heard their stories of neglect and abuse, it became clear to me that this line has been crossed.

Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council passed a bill on July 8, 2009, to improve legal protections for the estimated 1.5 million domestic workers in the country, but the measure still falls short of international standards, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill goes from the Shura Council, an appointed consultative body, to the cabinet, which can make further changes before it is enacted into law.

The US government should reform immigration enforcement policies that inflict needless suffering on immigrant women and their families, rights advocates said today. A former immigration detention center nurse, a former detainee, and a group of leading human rights advocacy and research groups will testify to Congress at a Capitol Hill briefing on June 24, 2009.

Thank you all for coming today and for taking part in this discussion. My name is Meghan Rhoad and I am the US researcher for the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. I was the principal researcher and author of the March 2009 report, Detained & Dismissed: Women’s Struggles to Obtain Health Care in United States Immigration Detention.  It is a privilege to be here and to have the opportunity to share our findings and recommendations about these important issues in our nation’s capital. And it is an honor to be introducing Kathleen Baldoni, who, despite the adverse consequences for herself, has come forward to speak out on behalf of the women and men she cared for as a detention center nurse.

Today the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of General Omar al-Bashir. We, as survivors of the conflict in Darfur, ask you to support the process of international justice, to ensure that our people will see an end to impunity, and finally, peace.

We write to bring your attention to the severe abuse of an Indonesian woman, Keni binti Carda, during her employment as a domestic worker for Khalid and Wafa al-Khuraifi in Medina, Saudi Arabia last year.