The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : ‘Gulf Malayalis’ rights being violated’

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Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

‘Gulf Malayalis’ rights being violated’

Special Correspondent

Minister releases Amnesty International’s report

Says Malayali emigrant workers live in inhuman conditions in the Gulf
Violation of rights of children, women can be reversed by mobilising public opinion

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran has said that many Malayalis working in Gulf countries were victims of serious human rights violation by their employers.

Releasing the Amnesty International’s annual report here on Wednesday, the Revenue Minister said he had personally seen the inhuman conditions in which many Malayali emigrant workers lived in various Gulf countries while on a visit as part of a quasi-official delegation from Kerala. They had to work in blistering hot sun and spend the nights in small and overcrowded rooms only to return to work early every morning, he said.

The situation was worse in the jails where 80 per cent of the inmates were persons who had landed there for no fault of theirs. On a personal interaction with inmates in some jails, facilitated by the country governments, he had found that many of them had been duped by persons promising them jobs and other benefits. He had also seen groups of persons in all these countries ready to offer all possible assistance to their unfortunate fellow men and women.

The work of organisations such as Amnesty International had great relevance because the world over the state itself was proving to be a violator of human rights. Such rights violations were both organised and dispersed and called for greater awareness among the people about their rights and ways to resist violations.

Although there was no mention of any specific instance of human rights violation from Kerala in the 2008 Amnesty International report, the State was not immune from the problem.

Kerala had lofty political cultural tradition, mechanisms to fight rights violations and sufficient laws, but there have been several instances of human rights violations in the State as well. Of particular importance was the violation of the rights of children and women. This trend can be reversed only by mobilising public opinion. Non-governmental organisations have a major role to play here, Mr. Rajendran said.

Amnesty International Kerala coordinator P. J. Josy chaired the meeting. K. C. Sunny, Head, Department of Law, Kerala University, received the report. P. Jayasree welcomed the gathering.

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