62-year-old Emirati man accused of raping a domestic worker

Standing before a UAE Court of First Instance, a Dubai-based Filipina domestic worker, said her Emirati sponsor raped and sexually assaulted her for months, Khaleej Times reported. 

The 52-year old woman, accused her 62-year-old employer of assaulting her on numerous occasions, before she finally reported him to police on October 4. 

According to Khaleej Times, a forensic report confirmed the woman's accusations, concluding that she was raped.

During interrogations, the victim told police she didn't come forward earlier because she was terrified of her abuser. 

"He raped and sexually assaulted me on several occasions and each time he would threaten to assault me if I did not do as he pleased," she said.

She also explained that her employer had raped her on the same day she filed a complaint with police. 

"He forced himself on me after he threatened me as usual. I tried to keep him away but stopped when he threatened me. I felt so scared and did not scream because there was no one but us in the flat," she added. 

The domestic worker managed to escape the defendant's house and got to a police station where she filed a complaint against him.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for December 24. 

Just last week, a video of a domestic worker being sexually assaulted by an Egyptian man in Riyadh, >sparked outrage across Saudi Arabia. 

The man was >arrested after thousands called on authorities to take action. 

Speaking to StepFeed, Lina, a Dubai-based activist who works with abused domestic workers, explained that as shocking as the most recent reported cases are, they certainly aren't isolated.

"I don't think we'll ever have an accurate number of cases when it comes to domestic workers who are sexually harassed in the Arab world and the Gulf in specific. I know for a fact that there are hundreds, many of which go unreported," she said. 

When asked why she thinks victims don't file police reports against their abusers, the social worker said:

"It's because they're terrified of their abusers. Most victims I've worked with waited months before they came forward because their abusers, who were in most cases, also their employers, had threatened them. Many had been told they'd be defamed if they ever came forward. Some were told no one would believe them if they spoke up." 

"Who can a human being who left their home, their family, sometimes even their children, turn to when they're subjected to such horrific assaults? In our countries, more often than not, the answer is: No one. This is why we need to call on authorities to implement laws that protect domestic workers, from all kinds of violence, including sexual harassment," she added. 

According to Human Rights Watch, "the experiences of less privileged groups--particularly domestic workers, including the pervasive threat of sexual assault, have largely remained invisible."

This is especially true in Gulf countries that host an estimated 2.4 million migrant domestic workers, all of whom fall under the >kafala system. 

Speaking to several victims of sexual assault in the region, HRW unveiled shocking stories. 

One of the victims, twenty-year-old Jamila A, "said all the men in the family she worked for in Oman, 'even the old man,' assaulted her and hid her room keys so she could not lock her bedroom door."  

Another victim, Anisa L., 28, "said her employer in Dubai repeatedly exposed his genitals to her and a fellow domestic worker."

The women also explained that their abusers often became violent when they rejected their advances, threatening to dismiss them or "make false claims to their wives that the women had seduced them."