LEAKED INFORMATION: WOMEN SLAVES IN THE UAE

INFORMACIÓN FILTRADA SOBRE MUJERES ESCLAVAS EN LOS EMIRATOS ÁRABES UNIDOS

(Publicamos esta información urgente que nos hace llegar un educador social español y que creemos que necesita ser circulada a la prensa internacional. Os pedimos vuestra ayuda en difundirla por las redes. Gracias   ).

Slavery in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) –

A specific case that has not been in the news, leaked by a Spanish community worker.

 June 25, 2016 

The UAE and Qatar are known, among the Gulf countries, for their remarkable efforts to project a modern, attractive and dynamic image abroad. However, these two countries’ wealth depends not only on oil but also on the cheap labour provided by immigrants.

In Qatar, that takes place with relative decency and discretion, but in the UAE gross exploitation of immigrants and outright slavery are endemic in the private sector, with the Government turning a blind eye to most of these cases, and even covering them up so as not to damage the country’s international reputation.

 A current specific case of slavery concerns 20 young immigrant women (most of them Filipinas) working in a “cleaning services” company in Dubai. Each one of them was hired, initially, as an immigrant worker. But, soon after, conditions changed to de facto slavery, which implies:

 >Absolutely excessive working hours and days, hard physical work, no statutory holidays, no annual vacation, no sick-leave days allowed, very crowded sleeping quarters, etc.

 >As soon as one of the girls complains, the “owner” (that’s the title of the boss!) sues her, manages to win the case, and gets the “legal” right to get a high compensation for damages from that young woman who then is forced to keep working… for free.

 >The “owner”, using pseudo-legal gimmicks and plain brute force, forces those who finish their contracts to “renew” them… to continue working for free.

 >These young women are controlled at all times by guards, drivers and customers / clients. Nonetheless, those few who manage to escape are tracked down, and about half of them are usually captured and taken back to captivity. Then, the “owner” sues them for absconding, wins the case (of course!), and then their debt and their obligation to work for free increases even more. Some of these women who complained have been sold to private customers.

 >By the way, the “owner” confiscates and keeps in a safe the passports of all these young women.  

 >Not being paid, some of these desperate women end up practically forced to provide “extra services” (prostitution) to some of the clients whose homes or offices they clean.

 >The “owner”, who has good connections and protection, has managed (so far) to come out clean from inspections or to avoid them altogether by the simple method of ignoring them, not opening the door, etc. And he refuses to accept any registered or courier mail if he has to sign its reception.   

>These women’s consulates in Dubai say that there is nothing they can do for them.

 I am working on this case from Spain with the help of other people, an international organization and a UAE NGO, but… unfortunately, without any results so far. That’s why I am writing this to you.

 If you want more information, or if you think you can help, please contact me: 

        Juan Valverde  –  jvalverdeg@hotmail.com

………………………………….………………

Information about the “cleaning services” company:

Various “decoy” names of the company (Numbers 1, 2 and 5 have different Facebook profiles, but all of them share the same web page and e-mail address):

   1-Jackline Building Cleaning Services

   2-Jackline professional Maid UAE

   3-Jackline Cleaning Services 

   4-Jackline Maid Services 

   5-City Best Cleaning Services Address: Block P 28, France Cluster   International City, Dubai, UAE

     info@jacklineuae.com

     www.jacklineuae.com

Tel: +971 4 44 88592 Mob: +971 55 8672223 / +971 55 8672224

NOTE 1: The new (June 3^rd) Saudi “owner” ( Mr. Yaser al Yami ) is currently going to the office only once a week, at night, and apparently goes back to Saudi Arabia right after. The day-to-day management continues to be in the hands of the previous Emirati “owner” ( Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Hassan Ali Al Amiri ). But both of them seem to belong to the same group. 

NOTE 2: In the initial section of their web page, if you scroll down a bit and click on the arrow to the right of “Any” (Employee), you can see the REAL names of some of the young women; then you can ask for “the girl of your choice”…

One of the decoy names of the company, and the name of the former “owner” (now the “vice-owner”).

Facebook images of an ad of “Jackline Building Cleaning Services”.

“Screen capture” of a section of the company’s web page ( www.jacklineuae.com ), showing the real names of some of the girls. The information shown in that web page is not all true. For instance, the real working hours of the girls is from 7:30 am to 11 pm or even 1 am.  Evening / night work has increased recently, and the girls are sometimes asked to provide “Extra Services” to the client, which some of them end up accepting as the only way to get some money, since no salaries are being paid.

Note left by a governmental supervision agency of Dubai on one of the company’s locations, after their “unsuccessful attempt” to carry out an overcrowding inspection.