Anita Mathur

It is not only the case of African girls and women who are facing severe domestic violence, including rape in the African nations, but the situation of the domestic help in the Arab nations are no better. In African nations, a woman is killed every three hours, according to police statistics – a rate five times the world average. Half are murdered by men with whom they had a close relationship.

Official statistics suggest that more than 110 rapes are reported to the police per day. Stay-at-home measures have only made things worse for women stuck in abusive relationships.

In the Arab countries, cases of rape and domestic violence have already reached the level of a volcanic explosion. These unfortunate domestic workers even cannot run away from the houses of their employers, as public transports are mostly unavailable.

Employers in the Middle East are infamous for physical assault and sexual violence on their female domestic help. Most of these unfortunate workers come from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

Seeking anonymity, a domestic help in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh told this correspondent, “We came here for earning and support our family at home. But we were never aware of being regularly beaten and raped by our employers. They treat us like sex slaves and we hardly can report such incidents with the local authorities. Those employers seize our passports and don’t allow us to keep mobile phones. Our condition is like those sex slaves of the medieval age”.

When asked about their condition during the lockdown, she said, “Now our employers and male members of their families are staying at home. We are forced to offer sexual service to each of the male members of the family. Sometimes they abuse us throughout the night in shifts and then force us to continue our daily routine work. Most importantly, these animals do not care about our health and hygiene and establish sexual relations without any protectives. We are in a terrible situation”.