Dhaka, Sept. 27 -- Bangladeshi domestic workers, almost all of them women, are coming home in coffins. Some are returning penniless, having lost their last Dinar in purchasing a return ticket. And there are many more who are stranded, not knowing what to do next.

These women are either our sisters, daughters or mothers, not to mention that they are human beings with rights that must be protected. Yet, in the face of a widening tragedy, there is almost no outrage. Is it because most of them are so darn poor that we don't even consider them worthy of our sympathy and of their rights?

Reports of violence against female domestic workers by Arab employers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States are truly frightening. A Filipino woman was chopped...