Saving workers from gallows
Saving workers from gallows
Many female workers have endured traumatic experiences in the
Middle East. While few rape cases have been reported from the
United Arab Emirates, this is no guarantee that the migrant
workers there, most of whom come from Southeast Asia, the
Philippines especially, can defend themselves in the face of
their employers and the law.
The conditions under which they work and the respect for
female workers in most labor-importing countries is poor. When a
Filipina worker in the UAE desert town of Al Ain was convicted of
murder in September, many inside and outside the Philippines
showed their sympathy.
The death sentence handed down to 16-year-old Sarah Balagaban
for the premeditated murder of her employer outraged many the
world over, except perhaps in Indonesia, where human rights
activists and women's organizations seem too preoccupied with
mounting domestic problems. Perhaps the sense of Islamic
brotherhood only has a local meaning.
Sarah Balabagan, a Moslem worker from the southern
Phillipines, was condemned to death last year for the
premeditated murder of her employer, Almas Mohammed al-Baloushi.
A court rejected her claim that she was acting in self defense
when she stabbed him 34 times in a rape attempt. An appeal was
filed on Monday, though a decision has been postponed for several
weeks.
French President Jacques Chirac is watching the case and has
promised to intervene in a manner which respects the UAE's
sovereignty.
A number of countries sympathize with the Philippine
government's determination that Balagaban was only 15 years old
when she committed the murder. That she was registered in the UAE
as being 27 years of age, according to the Philippine
authorities, is because her travel documents had been falsified
by her recruitment agency to meet the minimum age limit of 25
years for Filipinos (and Filipinas) to work abroad.
Other countries -- but regretfully not the UAE -- are well
aware that forging documents has always been part of the
bureaucratic game in poor Southeast Asian countries. As of
Monday, however, the court was not convinced of Balabagan's age,
even though her defense lawyer, who is fighting for her
acquittal, has submitted 11 pages of documents to back the
argument. The case has also been complicated by the victim's son,
who is demanding that the court execute her. In line with syaria
Islamic law, the court must listen to the victims' relatives.
Balagaban will only be saved from the gallows if the UAE court
and the relatives of the murdered employer understand the
cultural and administrative background of the defendant's
country. This is very important considering syaria law, which has
often times been too rigidly applied in the Middle East.
The irony of this notion lies in the sad fact that many
workers have been condemned for killing abusive employers, while
few employers, if any, have ever been penalized for rape.