Filipino workers suffer abuses in Saudi Arabia

The hurting and painful experiences of many Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia have received the attention of the Filipino civil society as well as Walden Bello who visited the kingdom lately on a fact-finding tour. Saudi Arabia's image in Southeast Asia has already been tarnished by a fairly widely reported case of an Indonesian maid being tortured by her female employer as well as WikiLeaks's controversial 'revelations', which purportedly expose the existence of 'underground' nightlife and not-that-puritan parties of earthly thrills for the wealthy and powerful elites, whose less well-off and more disempowered fellow countrymen are taught, told and expected by laws to lead strictly 'moral' lifestyles. According to a latest survey made public officially, the unemployment rate in the oil-rich country on the Arabian Peninsula has reached 10%.