Human Rights for Domestic Workers
Date: 14/12/2009 - 15:59
Women Migrant Workers
CARAM Asia a regional network of 34 NGOs and trade unions across 17 countries in Asia makes the call to governments across the globe to respect the rights and dignity of migrant workers especially domestic workers.

Banned in Bahrain from publication in the local newspapers
Women in Bahrain; Victims of Political Agenda and Propaganda
A Screen Report of Some Violations Against Women in Bahrain

Women’s Petition Committee - BAHRAIN
10 December 2009
International Human Rights Day

The Bahraini Authorities stepped up the political propaganda built on the exploitation of women for promotional purposes, without a real evolution of women’s legal, civil, political, economical, social or cultural rights.

24 September 2009

Women in Bahrain to Lobby for Equal Nationality Rights
Written by Rose Foran
Published Monday, July 13, 2009

Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Women (SCW) announced the launch of a major campaign for equal nationality rights, along with several other Bahraini women’s advocacy organizations.

The SCW gathered representatives from Bahraini women’s groups across the country to plan a push to revise Article 4 of Bahraini Citizenship Law, which does not allow for equal nationality rights for women.

13/5/2009
(Beirut) - Bahrain's revision of its restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system will dramatically improve the status of most migrant workers and reduce their risk of exploitation, Human Rights Watch said today. But the protections should be extended to migrant domestic workers, who are especially vulnerable to employer abuse, Human Rights Watch said.

Nondiscrimination and Access to Justice: 2.2
Autonomy, Security, and Freedom of the Person: 2.6
Economic Rights and Equal Opportunity: 3.1
Political Rights and Civic Voice: 2.3
Social and Cultural Rights: 2.9
(On a scale of 1-5, with 1 representing the least rights and 5 representing the most rights available)

INTRODUCTION

ARTICLE 19 has written to Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of Bahrain, asking him to ensure that women’s rights activist, Ghada Jamsheer, is protected from harassment and guaranteed her right to free expression.

Jamsheer is leader of the Women’s Petition Committee which works to protect women and advocate for improved women’s rights in the country’s sharia courts. She has been repeatedly harassed in the course of her work and has been effectively banned from the country’s media since 2007.

The Situation
of Women Migrant Domestic Workers in Bahrain

Report submitted to the 42nd session of the CEDAW Committee
October 2008

Table of contents
I. Introduction 3
1. Overview of the major violations of women's rights in Bahrain 3
2. The particular vulnerability of women migrant domestic workers 3

II. The situation of women migrant domestic workers 5
1. Lack of legal protection and the kafala system 5
2. Violence against women migrant domestic workers 7
3. Lack of access to justice 7
4. Trafficking 10

III. Recommendations 12

IV. Annex 14
1. Relevant provisions of CEDAW 14
2. Sources 16

2009/01/17 -
Front Line is deeply concerned following information received regarding an alleged harassment campaign against Ghada Jamsheer, a woman human rights defender. Ghada Jamsheer is the president of the Women's Petition Committee, an organisation which campaigns for the rights and dignity of women in the shari'ah family courts.