SAROOK, SRI LANKAN NATIONAL, DAMMAM, SAUDI ARABIA
I work as a recruitment agent in Saudi Arabia, finding domestic servants for Saudi nationals. I place mainly Sri Lankans and Indonesians.

To be honest, I advise people not to seek employment in Gulf countries - especially women - as they have to work 16-18 hour days and the labour laws exist on paper only.

The woman of the house had severely burned their arms with an iron

One or two house maids report to the office every day complaining about ill treatment.

They complain about not being paid, not being allowed to contact their family, not being given proper food, long hours and sexual abuse from their employers.

I cannot forget the two maids who reported here after escaping their sponsor [employer]. The woman of the house had severely burned their arms with an iron.

We handed the case over to the police - but nothing happened because the employer's relative was a high ranking police officer.

The whole case turned against me when the employers accused me of teaching the maids to complain.

They then intimidated the women into writing letters saying they had burnt themselves so they could go home to Sri Lanka.

If we discover clients are treating maids badly we blacklist them - and we have blacklisted many.

DR SHARMA, INDIAN NATIONAL, SAUDI ARABIA
I often treat household help brought to the clinic by their sponsors [employers].

They usually start by complaining of routine physical ailments, but after a little gentle questioning, one by one they talk about being abused sexually by the men in the family.

Getting beaten and working 18 hours a day is almost routine.

I am a Bengali-speaking Indian, so the Bangladeshi maids speak quite personally to me.

There is no way we can do anything about it. Saudi Arabia is the most starkly racist place you can have.

If an expat is involved in an accident with a Saudi, the Saudi can never be wrong.

My salary is 3,500 Saudi Reals a month. A Saudi doing the same job gets more than double that.

My employer - an illiterate Saudi businessman - holds my passport.