About the Author:
Janat ul Firdous is a student of the Master of Science in Nursing
(MScN) program at the Aga Khan University, Karachi. She holds a Post-RN
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) from Saida Waheed College of Nursing,
Lahore. With 18 years of clinical experience, she has worked in both global and
local healthcare settings.
Children are our future and being parents we
are responsible to raise them in safe and peaceful environment.it is imperative
to make them productive for future. Unfortunately in low income countries due
to poverty parents force their kids to work. A particularly troubling form is
child domestic labor, which the International Labour Organization (ILO)
classifies among the worst types due to risks like long hours, heavy lifting,
exposure to toxic chemicals, and use of hazardous tools and physical abuse.
Child domestic labor presents serious dangers
and continues to be a growing issue. The International Labour Organization
(ILO) emphasizes that child domestic workers are exposed to various hazards,
making this type of labor one of the most dangerous forms of child labor. These
young workers are frequently subjected to extremely long working hours and no
relief ("Ending child labour in
domestic work,"). Worldwide, an estimated 17.2
million youngsters work as domestic helpers in houses other than their own,
either for money or unpaid. Of these, 11.5 million have engaged in child labor,
and 3.7 million, or 21.4% of all child domestic workers, are engaged in
dangerous employment.
In addition, 5.7 million, primarily
adolescents, are doing work that may be legally allowed but still requires
safeguards to protect them from exploitation and ensure fair, decent working
conditions. There
is a notable gender disparity in child domestic labor, with girls accounting
for 67.1% of all child domestic workers ("Ending child labour in
domestic work,").
According
to estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Pakistan is home
to over 8.5 million domestic workers, the majority of whom are women and
children. Many of them face severe mistreatment by their employers. In a tragic
incident last year, an 8year old girl in Rawalpindi lost her life after being
brutally beaten by her employers for accidentally letting their parrots fly
away. Across Pakistan,
around 264,000 children are employed as domestic
workers, according to ILO estimates (Asrar, 2021).
Approximately
6.6 million domestic workers aged 15 and older are employed across the Arab
States.This
category highlights the region's substantial contribution in the global
domestic labor force, making up around 8.7% of all domestic workers globally.
Under the kafala (sponsorship) system, migrant domestic workers in a number of
Arab nations are obligated to their employers rather than being protected by
national labor laws.
This arrangement gives employers significant control over workers’ jobs and
living conditions. The employee runs the risk of losing their documentation
and being arrested, detained, or deported if the employer neglects to renew
their legal documents or if they depart without permission ("Domestic Workers in the Arab
States,").
In 2015 united nations created 17 Sustainable
Development Goals. The aim of these goals is provide peace prosperity for the
peoples and earth.The core aims of SDG 16 are to foster peace and enhance the
effectiveness of inclusive institutions. Reducing fatal violence, reducing civilian casualties in
conflicts, and ending human trafficking are important areas for progress ("Sustainable Development Goal
16,"). The United Nations defines child trafficking as the act
of enlisting, transporting, lodging, or receiving a child with the intention of
exposing them to forced labor, slavery, or exploitation ("Trafficking of
children,").
Hina's Story: A House of Horror, a Teenage Maid, and the
Nurses Who Selected Justice.
A real story of brutality, survival, and compassion inside a hospital where
abusers and healers wore the same uniform. At just 16 years old, Hina left her
home in Kot Momin, Sargodha, Pakistan. Hina, whose mother was a maid and her father was a
laborer, was viewed as a ray of hope for a better future despite coming from a
low-income home.
Hina's trip to Saudi Arabia to work as a live-in
housekeeper for her three small children was provided by a relative, Ms. Tania.
In the surgical department of Suleman bin Rashid Hospital in Holy Makkah, Tania
worked as the head nurse, while her husband served as the medical director in
the same hospital.They
offered her 500 SAR/month. It seemed like an opportunity. But what awaited Hina
was far from what anyone could imagine.
Upon
arrival, Hina was allowed to speak to her family just once a week. Within six
months, Tania began accusing her of being a poor caretaker, saying she was
“spoiling the kids.” She was locked inside a room when the family went out. She
wasn’t allowed to eat freely. The refrigerator and kitchen were locked to keep
food away from her.
One day,
Tania burned Hina’s face with a hot iron. Her husband followed with more
violence, beating her with an iron rod, cutting her hair in patches until she
looked like a completely different person, broken, bruised, and emotionally
numb. They refused to take her to a hospital, fearing exposure.Rather,
they took care of her at home, accusing her of eating their meals and blaming
her for the children's sobbing. They attacked her with a knife, causing severe
cuts on her arms and back, as if she were not human, as if that weren't enough
One day,
Hina gathered the courage to escape. She ran to a neighbor, a Saudi man, who
immediately took her to the police station and helped her file a First
Information Report (FIR). The case became official. She was taken to a hospital
for treatment, the very same hospital where the abusive couple worked.
I
was the Nurse in Charge of the Emergency Department when Hina arrived. She was
in a miserable state—her face was burned, her wounds infected, and she refused
to speak or eat, convinced someone might poison her. My junior, Noraida, a
compassionate Filipino nurse, was the first to attend to her and called me in
as translator and department lead. When I offered her breakfast, she refused,
saying, “They might have poisoned it.” I sat down beside her and told her it
was safe. She asked me to eat with her first, and I did. We shared the food
from the same plate. That moment of shared trust helped build a bond. She began
to accept medication after that.
Hina
was transferred to the Surgical Department, where her abuser, Tania, used to
work. Though Tania and her husband were already in police custody, their
friends and well-wishers still worked in the hospital. Some of them began
pressuring Hina to sign a false agreement, claiming she had harmed herself and
that the couple was innocent. They promised her money and a safe return to
Pakistan but threatened that if she didn’t cooperate, her life would be ruined
and she would never go home.
The
next day, Hina confided in me. I immediately reported the threat to the
hospital’s social worker and made it clear that she was being intimidated by
our own nursing supervisor on the night shift. From that point forward, Hina
refused to speak to the police or social workers unless we were present. The
social worker called us to be there for her official statement. I wasn’t alone.
Ali, our Head Nurse in Emergency (a trustworthy Saudi colleague), and two of my
Pakistani colleagues, Rida and Umair, stood by me. With the administration’s
help, we secured permission that only we and social workers could visit Hina,
no one else. We became her support system. We assured her she was safe, that we
were not going to abandon her, and that her truth would be heard.
We
were harassed in our hostel. People said, “You are destroying the lives of a
respectable couple with three kids. You are shameless.” We were warned that we,
too, could suffer. Still, we stood firm. Hina stayed at the hospital for five
days. After she was declared medically stable, she was transferred to Dar Ul
Aiman, a shelter home. Umair, in particular, stayed by her side through every
step.
Back
in Pakistan, the couple’s relatives were pressuring Hina’s parents to make her
drop the case. Her family, frightened and powerless, begged her to sign the
agreement and return, saying, “We don’t want money, we just want your life.” Umair
continued to support her throughout, acting as a protective older brother.
After four months, a settlement was reached. The couple paid Hina a significant
amount, and arrangements were made for her safe return to Pakistan.
After four
months, the couple returned to work as if nothing had happened.
But many
questions haunted me.
Ø Why is there no strong law to protect
young domestic workers like Hina?
Ø Why are abusers allowed to return
to work in healthcare, a place meant for healing?
Ø Who protects girls like her when
even their own families are forced into silence?
This
story is not just Hina’s, it’s the story of thousands of young domestic workers
across the world who suffer in silence, hidden behind doors that no one dares
to knock on. We did what we could. But we need systems, legal, medical, and
social, that stand for justice when individuals cannot.
References
Asrar, S. (2021). Are We Not
Humans?’ Pakistan’s Domestic Workers Confront Abuse
the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. https://doi.org/:
https://www.unicef.org/pakistan
Domestic Workers in the Arab States. https://doi.org/ILO
– Domestic Workers in the Arab States
Ending child labour in domestic work. https://doi.org/https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Childdomesticlabour/lang--en/index.htm
Sustainable Development Goal 16. https://doi.org/http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?=Sustainable_Development_Goal_16&wprov=rarw1
Trafficking
of children. https://doi.org/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafficking_of_children
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