Four Senegalese domestic workers beaten and humiliated as a result of the prevailing sponsorship system

L’Orient le Jour published an article yesterday on the arbitrary arrest of four Senegalese women domestic workers who wanted to spend the night outside their employer’s houses.  According to the report, the four women were arrested by the police whilst sleeping at a house used by the Senegalese community in Tarik Jdideh.  The women were brutally treated even though they had papers in good order. They were detained first at the general security premises in Sodeco and then moved to the detention centre in Adlyeh and were not allowed to contact their employers.
According to the newspaper, the reasons for the arrest vary by sources.  Friends of the four women noted that they were detained and mistreated so that they be interrogated about another Senegalese woman who fled her employer because of mistreatment.  According to the general security, they were detained because of the sponsorship system which forces migrant workers not to leave their employer’s home.
Human Rights Watch representative, Nadim Houri, condemned the mistreatment to which the four women were subjected especially in the absence of any clear accusation and also since their employers do not mind that they spend the night out.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 19 May 2014