QATARSUCKS and the world needs to know!

Thirty-four-year-old Rina (not her real name) looks like any capable migrant worker who has endured her fair share of hardship while working overseas.

Rina started work as a domestic helper in Qatar in 1992. Since she was only 17 at the time, she had to change her surname and age on her passport to be allowed to work overseas.

While their countrymen dined on lavish Christmas meals, seven Filipino welders, who recently lost their jobs, begged for food at the Corniche and Fish Market here in order to have something to eat.

They are among the 23 foreign workers who were laid-off when the construction company they were working for closed shop about four months ago.

Instead of going home, they decided to stay and fight for their salaries equivalent to four months which the company failed to give them. Their case is being heard by a local labor court.

The Gulf states -- Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – may no longer accept Filipino workers unless the Philippine government take steps to clarify its policy imposing $13 daily penalty on foreign employers who would not pay their workers on time and at a minimum of $400 a month.

The Committee for Importing Foreign Workers of the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) unanimously agreed in a meeting on Thursday to stop importing Filipinos until Philippine labor laws are clarified, Dylan Bowman of Kuwait New Agency reported.

A Qatari man, who was charged with raping a Filipina housemaid on the very first day of her employment in his house on August 14, 2005, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, the maid was 17 when the incident occurred.
The Public Prosecution said the accused, 42, had told the recruitment agency that he wanted the maid to take care of his children.

A clerk in a local manpower agency said the accused provided a Philippine visa for the maid within an hour and a half.

What follows is part of an affidavit from the Filipina victim in this case. It should be noted, beforehand, that the information detailed is upsetting. However, it is necessary to publish in order to gain an understanding of the widespead lack of human decency shown towards certain nationalities in Qatar. We are pleased to be able to give this young woman a voice.

AFFIDAVIT

A Qatari man is facing charges of raping a Filipina housemaid, when she was 17, on her very first day of employment in his house on August 14, 2005.

The Public Prosecution said the accused, 42, had told the recruitment agency that he wanted the maid to take care of his children. A clerk in a local manpower agency said the accused provided a Philippine visa for the maid within an hour and a half.