It’s summer in Amman and kites dot the skyline and dart across it as bright, billowing jellyfish, their tales-tentacles dragging over rooftops.
On 16 June the State Department released its Ninth Annual Report Trafficking in Persons Report. Upon its release, Ambassador Cdebaca and Secretary Clinton called for “partnership with foreign governments, NGOs, international organizations, and international development agencies”, and they cited several “heroes” for their efforts in stopping TIP:
"Indonesian hero, Elly Anita, a trafficking survivor herself, advocates fiercely to liberate Indonesian contract laborers in the Middle East…
Hero Aida Abu Ras, a Jordanian anti-trafficking activist, is a fierce advocate for the rights of foreign domestic workers, often so vulnerable as they labor behind closed doors.”
The extensive report covering 175 countries includes what are called, interestingly, “Country Narratives”, and I’ve included excerpts from Jordan’s summary below (countries are ranked in three tiers, the best tier 1):
JORDAN (Tier 2)
"Jordan is a destination and transit country for women and men from South and Southeast Asia for the purpose of forced labor. There were some reports of women from Morocco and Tunisia being subjected to forced prostitution after arriving in Jordan to work in restaurants and night clubs. Women from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines migrate willingly to work as domestic servants, but some are subjected to conditions of forced labor, including unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. During the reporting period, the Government of the Philippines continued to enforce a ban on new Filipina workers migrating to Jordan for domestic work because of a high rate of abuse of Filipina domestic workers by employers in Jordan. At the end of the reporting period, an estimated 600 Filipina, Indonesian, and Sri Lankan foreign domestic workers were sheltered at their respective embassies in Amman; most of whom fled some form of forced labor…
The Government of Jordan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the year, the government amended its labor law to cover agriculture and domestic workers, passed comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation, initiated a joint labor inspector and police anti-trafficking investigation unit, started a Human Trafficking Office within the Public Security Directorate’s (PSD) Criminal Investigation Unit, and improved efforts to identify victims of trafficking and related exploitation among foreign domestic workers, foreign laborers in the QIZs, and foreign women in prostitution. Nevertheless, anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were nascent and the identification of labor trafficking offenses and related victims was inadequate, with some victims treated as offenders and penalized for acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked.”
Visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/123136.htm for the complete Country Narratives.
I applaud the report for an accurate summary or “country narrative” of Jordan. I can attest to the runaways: in November 2008 I visited some 200 women in the Indonesian embassy shelter and two days ago, some 130 women in the Philippine embassy, and I believe the Ministry of Labor has attempted some recent legal reform. Yet what this study lacks as a trafficking in persons and hence a victims report – not a study of the spectrum of workers from abused workers to those workers enjoying fair employment opportunities – I hope to supplement with fieldwork.
As they flutter across the Amman skyline, the kites appear as free to wander as the light evening breeze. But kites, like migrant workers, no matter how long the string and how far they travel, remain tied to their origin and the gentle, familiar hand guiding them.
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