Antislavery Usable Past

Anisa L.

2017 (Narrative date)

The Global Slavery Index has estimated that there are almost 3 million people living in conditions of modern slavery in the region of the Middle East and North Africa. Oman is a transit and destination country for men and women primarily from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, most of whom migrate willingly as domestic servants or low-skilled workers in the country’s construction, agriculture and service sectors. Trafficked persons subsequently experience conditions of modern slavery such as the confiscation of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, long working hours without rest and physical or sexual abuse.

Anisa L. from Zanzibar, left to find work abroad in Oman in 2011 where she worked for 2 years for 21 hours a day with no rest and no days off. From Oman Anisa travelled to Dubai for 2 years from 2013 to 2015 where she was charged for migrating by the agency arranging her travel.

I may have more experience, but a Filipino [worker] gets 1,500 [AED per month] ($408). Why do I get 600 [AED] ($163)? I should get 1,500 too. The Philippines [government] says [to UAE] you have to give 1,500 or no more workers. But Tanzania [government]? No. They don’t do anything.

I woke up maybe 4:30 a.m. early in the morning, and went to sleep at 12 a.m. No break. Ironing, cleaning, cooking, looking after animals—two cows and ten goats, and cutting grass. No day off at all. All the time working like a robot.

[her employer repeatedly exposed his genitals to her and a fellow domestic worker]

Always doing that, just pulling down his pants. When we saw him, we would start running.

When I was working there I didn’t see anyone, no Swahili speakers, no neighbours, just this family. I just stayed in the house from day one until the last day.

[When Anisa migrated to Dubai in November 2013 she incurred agency fees]

Same medical check-up, same process for visa, and ticket. But this time they charged us money: 400,000 TZS ($250) to labor agents for preparation to go to Dubai.

In Dubai … I saw the agents beating domestic workers because they just returned and got tired. They said they don’t want to go work, and they [the agency] want to force them to work.

As told to researchers for Human Rights Watch

Country

Theme

Forced labour

Type

Narrative

Tags

2013-2015 (Enslavement period)

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: [email protected]. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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