A leading Bahraini human rights activist yesterday urged the government to set up a shelter for abused migrant workers, a day after an Indian housemaid was taken to the hospital by the police after being battered by her boss.

Housemaids are the most vulnerable to abuse because they are mostly uneducated and they come from poor homes that lack the basic knowledge of human rights, Nabeel Rajab, vice president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR).

"Therefore, a shelter must be made available by authorities as soon as possible to protect those who are abused, physically or sexually, by their employers," he told Gulf News in an interview.

A 28-year-old Indian housemaid was taken yesterday to the home of another human rights advocate after she was beaten violently by her employer. The woman, who has been here for only three months, was rescued by the neighbuors who alerted the police. She was then taken to hospital, where she told the police and BCHR officials that she has been physically and emotionally abused for three months by her employers, an Indian family.

According to the English daily, Bahrain Tribune, the maid had not been paid a salary for three months. She had also not been allowed to contact any outsiders ever since she arrived in Bahrain. The Indian embassy is arranging accommodation for her, according to the report.

Abusing foreign workers, domestics especially, is a wide-spread practice, according to Rajab, of the BCHR. "We in the centre receive complaints everyday," he noted. To address the growing number of complaints, the centre set up a special committee, called the Migrant Workers Committee (MWC). The committee, led by Rajab himself, includes representatives of expatriate communities.

More than 200,000 expatriates work in the kingdom. The BCHR estimate that up to 50,000 of them work as housemaids.

Most cases of abuse are never reported because the workers fear the consequences, Rajab said. "They think, and maybe they are right, that if they report their employers to the police they will be deported, especially when most of the foreign domestics are uneducated and ignorant of their basic rights."

And at the few times when an abuse is reported to the police by the victim, the maid ends up in detention because the police have no other place. "The Indian maid (who was taken to the hospital yesterday) was bleeding; she was the victim but was treated like a criminal," Rajab said.

He said the police should also take every claim of abuse seriously. "We must not fail the victims. Every claim should be investigated (by the police)," he said.

Rajab urged the government to set up shelters for abused runaway workers. Similar shelters have been set up in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan.

Rajab also urged the kingdom's women groups to help housemaids. "These groups can play an important role in protecting the rights of the housemaids and educating the public on how to deal with their helpers," he said.

He said the MWC has set up a hotline for abused workers to report complaints. The line will be operational soon.