By Abigael Gioche
In a recent report, Amnesty International Kenya has raised alarm over the systemic abuse of Kenyan women who work as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.
The report highlighted the challenges the women endure, including grueling, abusive and discriminatory working conditions.
The report titled, “Locked in, left out” tells the story of more than 70 women, subjected to brutal working conditions, with more than 16 hours of labor, denial of off days, and prevention from going out.
“The first thing my boss did was to take my passport. If you ask, they will tell you- I have paid everything for you and you will not dare to say anything because you are in a foreign country,” former Domestic Worker stated.
“Because of my dark complexion, I was always called a black animal. The children would also come to my face to point and laugh, saying how I am a monkey,” added another Domestic Worker.
According to the Amnesty report, often the victims are deceived by Kenyan recruiters, about the nature of their jobs, with employers confiscating their passports, phones and sometimes withholding their wages.
Although Saudi Arabia implemented limited reforms to the Kafala sponsorship system that binds the migrant workers to their employers and directly enables forced labor and other forms of abuse, they proved insufficient due to restrictions to workers covered by Saudi Arabia’s Labor law, which excludes domestic workers.
Irungu Houghton, Amnesty Kenya’s director, stressed the importance of protection of the domestic workers.
“Kenya has a big role to play in the protection of domestic workers abroad. It must work with Saudi Arabia to ensure the protection of migrants workers by better regulating recruitment practices and ensuring embassies are equipped to urgently support domestic workers in distress, including providing safe houses as well as financial and legal support for those in need,” Irungu remarked.
This report comes as the government continues to encourage young Kenyans to seek employment especially in Gulf countries.