Does the blame rest with housemaids?
People shouldn’t be blaming the uneducated maid instead of the employer (‘Treat your maids as human beings, official warns,’ Gulf News, April 21). There have been court cases in the past wherein these home workers were starved and abused, some subjected to torture. They can’t resign – as some readers are saying because they don’t know their rights and are sometimes threatened by their employers. It’s so easy for us to judge the poor and ignore the mistakes of their employers. It’s sad that people have to be told to treat their maids like human beings in the first place. Maids need to be informed of all their rights before starting a job and given a number to call if abused – it would be beneficial for both the maids and employers.
From Ms Rayan Moghrabi
Sharjah
Unforgivable behaviour
Murder and hurting children is an unforgivable act. It’s a pity in many cases that maids are not allowed to keep their own passports. They can’t escape their abusive situations.
From Ms Natasha Clemmensen
UAE
Police intervention
The maids are like family members but they should not hurt the children — they are innocent. It needs to be dealt with by the police. They are committing a bigger crime than their sponsors.
From Ms Umme Mohammad
Sharjah
Facebook comment
Lethal sun exposure
The biggest hazard you need to be aware of is that plastic water bottles left in the sunlight releases carcinogens. (‘UAE to tighten bottled water laws,’ Gulf News, April 22) It causes the plastic to leach lethal toxins into the water then being consumed by millions of unsuspecting people. I’ve seen bottled water deliveries left on the footpaths in direct sunlight in the UAE and it really worries me. It’s leaving people vulnerable to an ongoing exposure to these lethal toxins.
From Ms Caroline K. Morrissey
Limerick, Ireland
Facebook comment
Dirty standards
Why are we consuming bottled water at this rate in the UAE? If the water is not safe to drink, why isn’t there any other option for filtration like other countries? The bottles are not even placed in clean surroundings — people are spitting on the same footpath where they gather the bottles for delivery. We do things like wash our hands but the bottles are being loaded on water dispensers without being cleaned.
From Ms Archana Sen
Abu Dhabi
Enough is enough
These are the kind of representatives of law and governance that are entrusted with governing people (‘Watch: Russian politician tells aide to rape pregnant journalist,’ Gulf News, April 22). They make a living from the taxes and government fees that people pay, and this is how they treat them. They presumably fill their own pockets to live in luxury while fellow countrymen and women’s rights are brushed under the carpet. Enough is enough. Every being is equal in this world, but a handful of greedy and selfish people control it and create regulations and laws that keep them above the others.
From Mr Matt
Sydney, Australia
Website comment
Lost in translation
Who translated the video and wrote this article? It is lost in translation. Zhirinovskiy was using a metaphor and some colloquial phrases. And people made such a big fuss out of it because they misunderstood the meaning.
From Ms Dana
Vladimir, Russia
Facebook comment
Editor’s Note: Gulf News would like to clarify that this was an international syndicated article from Daily Mail in the UK, which was published in the World section.
Missed metaphor
The meaning of the metaphor and colloquial phrase has been misunderstood. That pregnant girl is about to lose her child. I don’t think her Russian is that poor to misunderstand!
From Ms Gozel Shikhmuradova
Dubai
Facebook comment
Searching for empathy
An absolutely shocking thing to say. How would the politician feel if it was his mother, grandmother, sister or daughter? I hope the expecting mother and baby are okay.
From Ms Samantha L’toya Bennett
UAE
Facebook comment
Body language
Regardless of what he might be saying, his body language and gestures speak volumes!
From Ms Leena Samuel
Dubai
Facebook comment
Gender equality and respect
I wonder about the issues women face in a country, which has such biased and corrupt politicians who have no respect for gender equality — they apparently use rape and sexual violence as a means for control. He should be sent to prison for saying that, and should learn to respect women before anything else.
From Ms Fatima Suhail
Sharjah
Facebook comment
Trust in domestic goods
These days, all Arab countries are using imported meats marked as halal (‘Don’t spread food safety rumours on social media, residents urged,’ Gulf News, April 22). But, how can we confirm these meats are 100 per cent halal? We cannot trust the ‘halal’ sticker all time. It would be safer to increase the local meat production in the Arab countries, so we can confirm we are eating halal products.
From Mr Mohammed
Sharjah
Website comment
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