QATARSUCKS and the world needs to know!

The Indian ambassador in Doha has proposed creation of a central pool of domestic workers to protect the interests of both employers and employees, and to end exploitation.
The pool of household employees like maids and drivers could be governed by a specialized organization under the responsibility of the Qatari government. The organization could sponsor the employees while the citizens of Qatar would be only employers.

This will lead to a win-win situation, and “satisfy the requirements of both sides”, Dr George Joseph told Gulf Times.

Indian housemaids and other domestic helps are working in "often distressing" conditions in West Asia, Commissioner for NRI Affairs (Goa) Eduardo Faleiro said after a visit to Kuwait and Qatar.

"We received complaints of physical torture and abuse, non-payment of salary for several months and filing of false cases against them," Faleiro, a former Indian minister of state for external affairs, said after last week's visit.

Close on the heels of the Indian embassy suspending attestation of visas for housemaids, two maids yesterday sought the mission’s intervention for their repatriation.

The two, who came separately in a gap of one hour, said they had left their respective employers’ homes after they were brutally assaulted by members of the houses. One even bore swollen marks on her forearm and leg, which, she alleged, had occurred after sponsor’s family members hit her with hot iron.

India will ban women under 30 from emigrating to work as domestic help in the Gulf and parts of Africa and Southeast Asia in a bid to curb sex trafficking, a report said Tuesday.

The move came after Renuka Chowdhury, the minister for women and children, said that overseas domestic workers had complained of being pushed into prostitution after their employers had seized their passports.

An Indian housemaid in Qatar has sought protection from the Indian embassy, alleging harassment at the hands of her sponsor. It's the fifth case where an Indian maid has lodged a complaint against her sponsor with the embassy in less than a week.

Indian Ambassador to Qatar George Joseph said the woman was already sent to the deportation center and her husband would join her on Thursday. The Indian embassy has also formally informed the foreign ministry about the incident, Joseph said.

Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs has blacklisted 14 Qatari companies at the recommendation of the country's embassy for not treating Indian workers properly. Another 40 local firms have been put on the mission's watch-list following complaints from Indian workers about not fulfilling their contractual obligations.

"This is only a watch-list and as and when a company is found to have improved its track record, its name would be removed from it," George Joseph, the Indian ambassador to Qatar, was quoted as saying in media.