An Asian diplomat has backed calls to segregate labourers from the rest of the community, but only if they are provided with ‘proper’ and ‘secure’ accommodation.

Bangladesh Embassy minister Mehdi Hasan said it was up to companies to provide expat employees with safe housing, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

It follows calls by the Southern Municipal Council to introduce a nationwide ban that would prevent labourers living in residential areas.

"I am only with the proposal of moving labourers into designated areas if they are provided with secure, convenient accommodation," he said.

"The company hiring these labourers is responsible for arranging them a proper place to live, whether it is away from or close to residents.

"I can understand why councillors are discussing this issue because I also live in a residential area like the rest and want my privacy to be maintained just like others.

"Therefore, let's hope that they come up with a decision that maintains our privacy, labourers' privacy and security as well."

The issue was highlighted by the Southern Municipal Council after an incident on Friday morning in which a labourer allegedly broke into a house in Isa Town and attacked 65-year-old Bahraini Abdulla Farhan and his 24-year-old son Jamal with a wooden stick.

They also claimed that the man tried to sexually assault Mr Farhan's wife.

The council initially claimed the assailant was Asian, but the family say he was actually Bahraini.
Farhan's son said he woke up to find a stranger wearing a red wife beater and white underpants attacking his father.

He said he attacked the intruder with an iron rod and knocked him unconscious to the floor before calling police.

"I woke up freaking out because my mum was screaming and all I could see was my dad crawling on the floor and a stranger hitting him brutally," he said.

"My mum also told me that she felt a man touching her arms and hair while sleeping, but he then left her and rushed to my dad to beat him."

However, the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) general secretary Beverely Hamadeh said the proposal to segregate the entire expatriate workforce was ‘strong and discriminative.’

"Segregation is a strong thing to do and is quite discriminative," said MWPS general secretary Beverley Hamadeh.

"The problem in segregating the labourers, apart from being discriminative, is that it can restrict their freedom and cost them more to move from one place to another.

"My feeling is that, if the housing is not as crowded as it is, it wouldn't have called what people describe as disruption."

Society chairwomen Marietta Dias said many companies in Bahrain do not provide accommodation for their workers, which leaves them with no choice but to rent privately in residential areas.

She also urged authorities to take steps to improve living conditions for workers, referring to a blaze in January 2013 that killed 13 Bangladeshi workers.

"MWPS has been urging authorities to take responsibility for improving the overcrowded and unsafe conditions in which hundreds of thousands of workers live," she said.

"In response to the tragic blaze in January 2013 which killed 13 Bangladeshi workers and left more than one hundred others traumatised and homeless, the governorates, municipalities and ministries agreed to work together to solve the problem.

"Since the majority of companies do not provide accommodation for their workers, hundreds of thousands of workers on low incomes have no choice but to rent privately.

"Landlords must take responsibility for their properties - restricting the number of people living in them and ensuring that they are safe to live in. It seems that they are still not being compelled to do so.” - TradeArabia News Service