Raped, neglected, jailed in Saudi

[NNN0LHI]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20101211-308305/Raped-neglected-jailed-in-Saudi

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:17:00 12/11/2010

MANILA, Philippines—A Filipino cleaning woman who was allegedly raped and then thrown into jail for adultery has returned to the Philippines after spending more than a year in prison in Saudi Arabia during which she lost her baby.

Clarissa (not her real name) arrived in Manila on December 9, said Migrante International, an overseas Filipino workers group which had been campaigning for her release.

Although elated by Clarissa’s repatriation, Migrante demanded that the foreign affairs and labor officials who allegedly neglected her case should resign and issue a public apology to her.

“Nobody should ever experience such injustice and neglect from their government. Our wish list this Christmas is for abusive and negligent government officials to resign from their posts and be prosecuted for their abandonment of our OFWs,” said Garry Martinez, Migrante chair.

[uppityperson]

1. This is standard practice, bring in foreigners to do work that is looked down upon,

then abuse them while they are there, including jail if they object. Not every person in Saudi Arabia does this, but enough to make it a known practice

[Hello_Kitty]

4. Standard practice here in the U.S too. eom

[Odin2005]

2. SA is a evil, evil country.

:grr:

[MattBaggins]

3. Actually it's pretty cool

well at least if your a member of the royal family or the merchant class.

[uppityperson]

7. It is a feudal tribal country that ended up with a shitload of money

There are good people there, and some good things about it, but there are a lot of bad things also. They got thrown into the 20th century and given huge amounts of money and they had few good ideas of how to handle it. Seems those who did don't last long either.

[RandySF]

5. Perfectly illustrates the desperation in everyday Filipino life

Why else would someone agree to clean houses in a country where even Saudi women have zero rights? Overseas Foreign Workers (OFW) put themselves at all kinds of risks when they agree to these jobs in order to send money home to their families.

[RZM]

8. I forget the exact number

But something 9 million Filipinos work abroad. My stepmother is one of them. She cleaned houses in Europe, Canada, SE Asia, and now does it here in the US. She used to work in Singapore and said that in the housecleaning industry there, it was considered most desirable to work for Western families and least desirable to work for Chinese families. Apparently the Westerners are friendlier to the help.

[ZombieHorde]

6. Disturbing. nt