Domestic worker tricked into Iraqi employment

Darmianti binti Jaba Saleh, an Indonesian domestic worker, was tricked by her employment agency into traveling to Iraq for work, BBC News reported Wednesday.

According to the article, Saleh was told by her agent she “was headed for Kurdistan - a safe place, he told her, on the border with Iraq.” However when Saleh arrived, she quickly realized that Kurdistan was not a separate country, but rather a semi-autonomous region within Iraq.

Once Saleh arrived in Erbil, she said she and the other workers “[were] very afraid, especially when we heard the booming sounds outside. We’d all be crying in our rooms.” According to Saleh, dozens of workers from Indonesia were tricked into working in Iraq by her agency.

When Saleh attempted to leave, her agency refused, saying she needed to pay them $2,500. Luckily, with the help of an international aid organization, Saleh escaped Iraq. She is now suing her agency for their deceitful actions. The article states that this “is the first time Indonesia has tried anyone on a charge of sending migrant workers to Iraq unwittingly.”

For the full article, click here.