KUWAIT: Several human rights organizations have recently launched a media campaign in cooperation with the Human Rights Watch organization to raise awareness about the suffering of domestic workers. The campaign also hopes to address the perspective shared by many Kuwaiti employers that housemaids do not deserve their human rights, reported Al-Qabas.

The 'put yourself in their place' campaign reveals several of the inhumane practices that domestic workers in Kuwait are often subjected to. The campaign tackles such subjects as unpaid salaries, working without weekends, breaks or annual leaves, being locked inside homes for extended periods of times and being deprived of nutrition. The campaign attempts to addresses the public by urging them to imagine what it would be like to be in their maid's shoes.

In addition to placing ads in local dailies and magazines, the campaign also launched a facebook page which has so far gathered support from at least eight hundred members. The campaign provides stories about housemaids who were mistreated in Kuwait and sheds light on the plight of many domestic workers in Kuwait. Currently, more than 660,000 maids from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Ethiopia and other countries work as domestic laborers in Kuwait for families of various nationalities
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The campaign also addresses the many flaws that the current labor laws contain and highlights the fact that the law specifically leaves out those working as housemaids. For example, housemaids are required to have their residencies registered in the name of their employers, meaning that they are directly sponsored by the person they work for.

This stipulation in the law prevents maids from being able to terminate their contracts or switch to other sponsors unless they get approval from their sponsors. This stipulation often allows maids to be oppressed or abused by their sponsors, which all too often leads to cases of absconding or even suicide. - Kuwait Times