We need to have a serious discussion about how housemaids and 'labourers' from the African subcontinent, South Asia and South East Asia are mistreated in the Middle East, especially but not barring Gulf countries like Kuwait.

A thread https://twitter.com/BarbieUpdate/status/1384318604758421509

I'm writing this as someone who lived in Bahrain and who has seen first hand the ways in which these people are treated. As well as the racism (antiblackness in some cases) they endure.

So rich people in these countries like to 'hire' maids who they dress up in uniforms (1/)

And make them do basically everything often for no or hardly any pay. They take their passports so they can't escape and so that they can keep abusing them. I've heard cases of r*pe and sometimes they end up dead. This is not limited to housemaids as labourers go through (2/)

Similar mistreatment as well by their employers and often forced to live right quarters with 50 other people. There aren't any laws or legal recourse for these people and they often have no choice as they face extreme poverty in their home countries. As a result it has been (3/)

Normalised and no radical change can be enacted by regular people wanting to help. Countries like the UAE (Dubai et al), Kuwait, Bahrain, etc are where you can find these practises but it's not limited to just there (see Singapore). The mistreatment of domestic workers is (4/)

Global. It's important that we continue to shed a light on the harsh realities of these shiny looking countries. Dubai was essentially built by South Asian labourers. It 100% can be construed as slavery and should be treated as such. Those in and from the SWANA region must (5/)

Speak up about this because I know a lot of people who's family members have maids who they mistreat. But because its normalised noone sees an issue. They preach black lives matter and advocate for human rights but where is that energy for women like the one in the video? (6/)

These are people, human beings, who deserve better. (7/)