3 Female victims of human trafficking rescued from Oman-UAE border

 After being trapped in a remote border town in Oman for several months three Malayali women were rescued by the Indian embassy in Oman with the support of the Indian Social Club (ISC Oman).

TOI had reported about the plight of the women, suspected to be victims of a cross-border human trafficking racket, early in August.

The women, beauticians by profession and hailing from Alappuzha, reached home last week, after the ISC took them to the Indian Embassy in Muscat from the town of Buraimi, bordering the UAE, from where they were traded like slaves to various Arab sponsors in Oman.

Two other women, who too were cheated by agents back in Kerala and ended up in Burai mi, are said to be safe and would soon be heading home, according to the ISC officebearers. TOI, quoting ISC community welfare secretary P M Jabir and a few of the victims, had reported how these women were offered beautician's job in Dubai and got trafficked to Oman. The media attention and ef forts by the ISC prompted the governments and the Indian embassy to take immediate action to rescue the women, Jabir said.

"However, there are several others, including housemaids from other Indian states as well, trapped in remote plac es in Oman after getting trafficked across the UAE-Oman border. The women who were rescued have given the names of those agents who cheated them. Now, it's up to the state and central governments to take action," he added.

"We do not want to give any official complaint as it would tarnish our image in the community ," husband of one of the rescued women said.

"We gave Rs 50,000 for visa to the agent in Kerala, who promised around Rs 25,000 minimum monthly salary for a beautician's job. My wife was kept along with 40 other women in a small house in UAE for 22 days before they were transported to Oman across the border, where they were forced to work for a meagre salary and that too for long hours," he said.

Jabir pointed out that he had been getting calls from such victims of cross-border recruitment for long. "It was one of the major issues I raised at the panel discussion conducted in New Delhi by the Indian external affairs ministry three months ago."

The Times of India

 

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