Exported and Exposed

Abuses against Sri Lankan Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates

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• I. Summary

• Key Recommendations

• II. Background

• Status of Women and Girls in Sri Lanka

• “Push Factors” and Sri Lankan Women’s Decisions to Migrate for Work

• Sri Lankan Women’s Labor Migration to the Middle East

• III. Abuses of Prospective Women Migrants in Sri Lanka

• Regulatory Framework in Sri Lanka and the Recruitment Process

• Recruitment Fee System and Debt Payments

• Deception and Lack of Information in Recruitment and Trafficking

• Pre-Departure Medical Testing and Coerced Contraception

• IV. Abuses in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates

• Unpaid and Underpaid Wages

• Wage Exploitation

• Physical and Psychological Abuse

• Sexual Abuse

• Heavy Workload and Excessively Long Work Hours without Rest

• Food Deprivation and Inadequate Living Conditions

• Confiscation of Passports, Forced Confinement, and Restricted Communication

• Prohibitions on Returning Home

• Forced Labor

• Exploitative Practices by Labor Agents in the Countries of Employment

• V. Protection Failures and Obstacles to Effective Redress

• Government Obligations under International Human Rights Law

• Bilateral Labor Agreements

• Response of the Sri Lankan Government

• Pre-Departure Protection Failures

• Licensing and Regulation of Labor Recruiters and their Subagents

• Training

• Proposed Migration Ban

• Sri Lankan Consular Services in Countries of Employment

• Inadequate Complaint Mechanisms and Victim Services upon Return to Sri Lanka 

• Response of the Countries of Employment: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates 

• Exclusion from Labor Laws

• Immigration Regulations

• Obstacles to Investigation and Prosecution of Reported Abuses

• VI. Conclusion and Recommendations

• VII. Acknowledgments

November 2007 Volume 19, No. 16(C)