NGOs recently started a nationwide nationality campaign to push for citizenship for children of Bahraini women married to foreigners. According to the NGOs, Bahraini women are being robbed of their constitutional right to secure citizenship for their children. Their children are also deprived of health, education and housing services, in addition to having to secure residence permits. The campaign with the theme, “Citizenship for Me and My Children," stresses the need to grant citizenship to children of Bahraini women married to foreigners to ensure social justice and enhance the country’s human rights record.
Bahrain has shown its religious tolerance in allowing expatriates to celebrate and observe various festivals and special days on Friday, 14 April. Christians observed Good Friday with masses said at churches while Indians from the north celebrated Baisakhi (new year) by chanting prayers at the Gurdwara. Indians from the south, in turn, celebrated Vishu according to the Malayalam calendar with suitable offerings and prayers. People from Nepal and Sri Lanka also celebrated the new year according to their own tradition.
The Philippine Embassy is set to implement the mandatory insurance for all Filipino household workers starting 1 May. The move is part of measures that the Philippine government is taking to further protect its workers. Under the scheme, employers hiring Filipino household workers would be required to pay BD25 to a designated Bahraini company before a job contract is accepted. The insurance coverage includes death benefits, repatriation costs and work-related injuries.
Filipina domestic worker, Imelda Rugor, 38, was taken to the Salmaniya Medical Complex on 8 April after she tried to slash her wrists at the Philippine Embassy’s shelter in Zinj in an apparent suicide attempt. Rugor was the third Filipina domestic worker who has attempted suicide at the shelter in less than a month. The situation has prompted embassy officials to propose to Bahraini employers to have the psychological condition of their domestic workers’ assessed upon arrival in the country. Bahrain requires newly arrived workers to undergo health checks before being issued CPR (Central Population Registration) cards but these checks do not include psychological evaluation.
Four Filipinos died while seven others survived when the dhow (sailing ship), Al Dana, sank off the coast of Bahrain on 30 March. The dhow had been hired by the Nass, Murray & Roberts Company for a party. Among those who died were Edwin Felipe Batacan, 48, a surveyor for the company, and Norman de Leon Belardo, 40. Two of three Filipina waitresses working at the ill-fated Al Dana also perished in the accident. They were Nenita Jacob, 39, and Queenie Dungca, 31. Their flatmate and colleague, Nanette Salgado, was among those who survived the tragedy.
The Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) distributed food on 2 April to some 70 workers abandoned by their employers in two camps in Sitra and Al Eker. MWPS officials visited 45 stranded workers at the Al Khaja Establishment and 25 other workers at the Hamelco Electrical Works. The workers have issued an appeal for assistance while their labor case is being heard in court since they have not received their salaries for some time.
A Sri Lankan woman was ordered jailed for six months for adultery and for another month for sneaking in her Sri Lankan lover into her room inside her sponsor’s house. According to initial investigations, the woman was a widow who agreed to a marriage arranged by a fellow Sri Lankan to support her children. Upon arrival in Bahrain she found out that she was marrying a 73-year old Bahraini man but she agreed to go through with the marriage anyway. However, she ran away from her husband when he gave her only BD5 a month for expenses, instead of BD200 as earlier promised. She found work in the Saar area where she started an affair with a Sri Lankan man. Her Bahraini husband, however, managed to trace her and brought her to the police station.
The Lower Court has sentenced three Turkish men to one month in jail each for entering Bahrain using fake passports, which they must have obtained through unlawful means in their homeland. Their fake documents were discovered by the airline company as the men were about to leave for another country via London. Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor has appealed the Lower Court’s decision on the case because it wants the men’s passports to be confiscated for a more detailed investigation.
Sources: Eunice del Rosario, “Filipinos urged to notify embassy about missing," Gulf Daily News, 1 April 2006; Eunice del Rosario, “‘People were dying and we couldn’t do anything’," Gulf Daily News, 1 April 2006; Eunice del Rosario, “Victim’s last words of love," Gulf Daily News, 1 April 2006; Eunice del Rosario, “Filipina waitress still missing," Gulf Daily News, 2 April 2006; Vinitha Viswanath, “Food donated to labourers," Gulf Daily News, 3 April 2006; Eunice del Rosario, “Filipina waitress mourned," Gulf Daily News, 4 April 2006; Titus Filio, “BD25 two-year scheme from May 1," Bahrain Tribune, 6 April 2006; Eunice del Rosario, “Suicide bid by maid…," Gulf Daily News, 9 April 2006; Mohammed Aslam, “Bride jailed for adultery," Gulf Daily News, 13 April 2006; Nada Al Abbas, “Fake passports case appealed," Bahrain Tribune, 15 April 2006; “Drive to push for equal rights," Bahrain Tribune, 15 April 2006; “Expats engage in a day of worship," Bahrain Tribune, 15 April 2006; “Tests urged for Filipino maids," Gulf Daily News, 15 April 2006