Alwatan Arabic daily reported that a “Pakistani man, identified as Khadem Hussein, committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope tied to ceiling in his room in Khaitan.” The roommates of the victim, according to the daily, “said the man was facing financial and family problems in his home country, but said they did not expect him to commit suicide” (Arab Times, March 15, 2010). This tragic incident of the latest suicide case is the not the first nor is it going to be the last one. Though we do have in Kuwait numerous local organizations purportedly dealing with problems facing expats, yet none of them, as far as we know, seriously touch on this thorny issue of suicide among usually low-paid expatriate workers.

Ironically, it seems to have become quite common to read or hear about the cases of such desperate individuals - suicide victims - who seemed to have reached an ultimate degree of helplessness. When an individual ends one’s life, apparently at the spur of the moment, this should point at deeper and more complicated causes. We need to investigate the rise in suicides among some sections of the expat population because it does not necessarily originate from physical or emotional abuse.
In the latest reported suicide, the Pakistani victim seemed to have reached his rock bottom suffering from financial problems in his home country. Whether such financial problems took the form of debt bondage in the home country or started while the victim was working in Kuwait, we cannot ignore the magnitude of such a problem.

The Kuwaiti government has done its share to address many of the problems facing expats, especially low paid laborers and domestic workers. Yet, what we need to do these days is take a thorough look at the real causes behind such tragic incidents. For example, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor can establish new channels of cooperation with South and East Asian embassies. Establishing a joint task force, set up by the Ministry and embassies will be a step in the right direction. Moreover, such close cooperation can take the form of establishing liaison offices in some South and East Asian countries to deal with potential psychological problems and other tormenting situations and issues being faced by some expats. Such facilitating of the process of providing perhaps rehabilitating centers and real-time evaluations of prospective workers may reduce the causes of suicide.

Doing almost nothing to stop the increase in the number of suicide cases among some low-paid and usually non-professional expats will increase human misery and suffering. I suggested in earlier articles published in Arab Times that we need to establish “hotlines” or some kind of speedy and interactive channels; allowing more access to help for potential victims of exploitation and abuse. For example, a domestic worker, who does not speak Arabic; who might have been already entangled in debt bondage in his/her home country, and above all who faces escalating financial difficulties while working in Kuwait, certainly deserves assistance. The victim of the latest suicide might have gone through difficult challenges to get a work permit in Kuwait. Yet, either through frustration, lack of appropriate and accessible channels for help, the recent victim might have reached a desperate stage in his suffering.

Suicide have always been quite a complicated issue: when an already vulnerable and fragile human soul is exposed to different kinds of exploitation, desperate circumstances and lacks the much needed help, such people slip into darkness and complete pessimism, extreme anxiety, ultimately leading to utter helplessness. All said and done, we need to all necessary actions to stop suicides among the most vulnerable.

khaledaljenfawi@yahoo.com