17:30 19.08.2008 | All news from "AIDS/HIV"
Ethiopia: Kuwait Stops Issuing Visas to Ethiopians
Hashem Majed, the Managing Director of Al-Huqooq International Company told the online media that the maids were newly recruited and expressed surprise as to how the three maids had cleared the medical tests in their home country.
"The Kuwait government should not mete out collective punishment to all Ethiopians, instead the Kuwait embassy in Ethiopia should get to the bottom of the matter, even as he called on the embassy to check the antecedents of the medical centers in Ethiopia, which cleared the three maids", he was quoted in the report as saying.
The three infected workers have been deported from the country, the report added as the official pointed out.
"The Kuwaiti embassy should conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain whether any ill-practices were involved in the matter. I believe the ban is temporary in nature"
According to the report, Al-Huqooq International Company has been offering legal assistance to distressed workers and has helped in repatriating thousands of stranded workers of various nationalities.
Until a few days ago, about 1,000 Ethiopian maids were being recruited on a monthly basis and the ban is likely to create a serious vacuum in the domestic sector, especially after Sri Lanka decided to cut the number of maids to the Middle East over alleged mistreatment, it added.
According to Majed, there are some 14,000 Ethiopians in Kuwait, many of whom work in the domestic sector.http://allafrica.com/