Marietta Dias

After retiring from the Airline industry, Marietta Dias devoted her life to helping fight for the rights of migrant workers in Bahrain.

Her organization, the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS), fights both in and out of the courthouse for the rights of migrant workers. They have a residential shelter where they house victims of trafficking, and provide legal assistance, even providing assistance in court. They educate workers about their rights, and mediate labor disputes where possible, trying to improve conditions for migrant workers in Bahrain. Marietta Dias is the chairperson of the organization, and fights tirelessly to support action on behalf of migrant workers, raising awareness of their plight. She has coordinated with law enforcement, government officials, embassies, and civil society groups to spread awareness, and improve conditions. Between August 1, 2007, and February 1, 2008, the government granted amnesty to some 60,000 undocumented migrants, and MWPS assisted many of them in either returning to their country of origin or getting proper documents. In 2008, she was given a Trafficking in Persons Report Hero Award for her efforts to combat modern-day slavery.

In the 2014 TIP Report, Bahrain was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. It is a destination country for both forced labor and sex trafficking. The authorities do prosecute some cases, but need to improve their victim identification procedures, as well as clearly differentiate forced labor cases from mere labor disputes.