New Delhi, India (July 03, 2014): Indian nurses stranded in Iraq have reportedly told Amnesty International India that armed men have taken control of a government hospital where they are employed, approximately 180 kilometres northwest of Baghdad. These armed men are suspected to be members of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Three of the 46 nurses in the hospital said all of them were forced to move to the basement of the hospital on Mondaynight (30 June) after bombs went off inside the hospital compound.
Sajitha (name changed), one of the nurses, told Amnesty International India on the phone on Tuesday (1 July), “Earlier the bombs were being thrown outside the hospital. After Monday evening’s bombing, we are very scared. The threat is much more real. The hospital was filled with smoke after a few wings of the hospital, not far from the nurses’ quarters, were bombed.”
“On Tuesday morning, the bombing stopped. So we moved to the second floor and are staying in eight rooms. The ground floor rooms are now filled with armed men. They told us that they won’t harm us. But they are carrying guns. We are feeling threatened.”
The nurses said that the Indian Ambassador to Iraq, Iraqi authorities and members of the International Committee of the Red Cross had been in touch with them on a daily basis since the fighting reached the area.
Another nurse, Sindhu (name changed) said, “No member of the hospital management is around anymore. Iraqi authorities used to come to the hospital to reassure us. Now they have also stopped coming. It is just us, some Bangladeshi workers who came here for some construction work and the gunmen.”
“When the fighting began, the Indian ambassador asked us to call him if we needed help. The Embassy has been very helpful.”
“We have not faced problems with food, water or electricity as yet and Embassy officials told us that we will be moved to other places once the land routes become safer. But now with armed men right outside our rooms, we are not sure what to expect. We just want to get out of here safely,” Anisha (name changed), another nurse said.
Five nurses had earlier told Amnesty International India 36 of the 46 nurses wanted to return to their families in India. The rest reportedly said they wanted to work in safer hospitals in Iraq until they could repay large loans taken back home in India. After the bombing, the nurses Amnesty International India spoke to said that everyone wanted to return home.
The nurses who spoke to Amnesty International India said that 15 nurses who had joined the hospital in February 2014 have not been paid their salaries since they started work.
According to the nurses, their job contracts stated that they would not be paid for the first three months of work, and would instead be paid a combined amount at the end of four months. They say the hospital authorities had claimed that payments were delayed because of Parliamentary elections in April.
Amnesty International India was unable to contact hospital authorities to verify this information.
“There is no guarantee that we will be paid if we go back to India. So we will all have to give up five months of our salaries, which runs into thousands of US dollars,” Jincy (name changed) said.
The nurses have asked the governments of Iraq and India for help in recovering their unpaid wages. Jincy (name changed) said, “If I return home without any money, my father has to use the little money he gets from farming to repay my education loan. My younger brother and sister will have to drop out of school.”
Vinitha (name changed) told Amnesty International India, “I lost my father when I was a child. My mother is a daily wage labourer and she brought up two daughters with a meagre salary. I always dreamed of being independent. Now that dream has left me with a loan of US $10000. How will I repay it with a monthly salary of just US $200 in an Indian hospital?”
The nurses, most of whom are reportedly from Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, are paid between US $ 600 and US $850 per month. Many of them have reportedly borrowed between US$ 8000 and 13000 in education loans.
“We knew Iraq was more dangerous when compared to many other countries. But we still came here because there is stiff competition to get into hospitals in the Gulf countries. Recruiting agents charge much less for arranging work in Iraq than for other countries,” said Vinitha.
Burdened by debt and vulnerable to exploitation, the situation of the nurses is another reminder of the risks Indian migrant workers face when employed abroad and highlights the urgent need for an effective legislation which protects Migrant Rights more effectively.
Amnesty International India urges the government of India to work closely with Iraqi authorities to ensure that the nurses are allowed to leave and return to India if they so desire.
Amnesty International India urges the government of India to draft a new emigration law that is consistent with international human rights standards and aligned with progressive emigration management systems to protect the rights of Indian migrant workers before they leave home.
Migrant workers, including those from India, are among the most vulnerable groups in Iraq as fighting between government forces and armed groups led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) spreads to other areas in the country.
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to the conflict are obligated to take necessary precautions to spare civilians. Armed groups and government forces in Iraq must ensure that civilians and civilian objects are not targeted and should allow civilians wishing to flee the fighting to do so safely.
Amnesty International is also calling on all armed groups and forces on all sides of the conflict to end summary killing and torture of detainees, as well as direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks, all of which amount to war crimes.