By Faridah n Kulumba
Africa-Press – Kenya. At the end of June 2022, the government of Kenya revealed that it’s striving to establish safe houses in the Middle East countries to safeguard its migrants who are being abused in those countries. The abuse of foreign domestic workers has long been a problem in Saudi Arabia.
Purposes of the safe houses
According to the authority Kenya set aside Sh70 million to build houses in Saudi Arabia where many Kenyan migrants have undergone mental and physical violations. Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are often reported to be victims of severe abuses by their employers. The reported cases range from psychological torture, with some leading to death. Kenya’s decision to build these houses is a quick measure to save Kenyans who are being mistreated abroad and more so in Saudi Arabia in order to protect them as they plan for their repatriation.
Kenya-Saudi Arabia relations
The relationship between Kenya and Saudi Arabia is cordial, and the two nations continue to enjoy longstanding, warm, and friendly ties spanning several decades since 1963. Saudi Arabia is keen to ensure that the two countries’ diplomatic relations are not soiled by issues that can be solved through dialogue. Saudi Arabia offers ample employment to Kenyans, and currently hosts about 7-10 million expatriates, both skilled and unskilled. Job opportunities exist in industries, hospitals, education, research, and agriculture including the dairy industry, shipping and commerce, telecommunication, and IT industry.
Data
In recent years many Kenyans especially women have migrated to Saudi Arabia as domestic workers. Kenya’s Parliament Committee on Labour and Social Welfare data shows the number of Kenyans working and living in Saudi Arabia rose from 55,000 in 2019 to 97,000 this year.
Deaths
In May this year, the authorities in Kenya revealed that since November 2021, at least 23 domestic workers have died while working in the Middle East. Most of those deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia, according to labor officials. However, Saudi authorities reported that all 23 of those deaths resulted from cardiac arrest. Last year in September Kenya’s Foreign Ministry said that 89 Kenyans, most of them domestic workers, died in Saudi Arabia in the past two years.
Human rights abuses
In April 2020, rights advocacy group Amnesty International reported that Kenyans who have jobs as domestic workers in the Middle East often complain of lack of payment, forced labor, physical abuse, rape, and dangerous working conditions.
Foreign workers have been charged with various crimes, including theft, murder, and “black magic.” After a worker is convicted and sentenced to death, in many cases the worker’s home government is not notified. By the time the country’s representatives are notified, it can be difficult for them to argue for a commutation of sentence.
Kenyans In the Middle East
There are more than 100,000 Kenyans who mostly work as domestic workers or are doing other menial jobs in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In July 2020, the population of Saudi Arabia was estimated to number roughly 34,173,500. Approximately 13,122,300 of these were international migrants (2019), accounting for roughly 38.4 percent of the total population.
How domestic workers end up in Saudi Arabia
According to the Guardian, as of 2013, there were more than half a million foreign-born domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. Most of these workers come from poor African families, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. These poor people are taken by recruitment agencies after paying large sums of money. After working on their paperwork the agencies connect them to their employers the Saudi Arabians.
Strong measures on illegal labour migrants
The government of Kenya has begun tracing Kenyans who are suffering abroad as it puts stringent measures to control illegal labour migrants. The government said that it’s now mandatory for all private recruiting agents to register with the National Employment Authority (NEA) to be allowed to export labour.
Saudi Arabian law (kafala system) governing foreign workers
The kafala system present in a number of other Arab countries governs the conditions and processes for the employment of foreigners. Under the kafal system, all foreigners who stay in Saudi Arabia with the intention of working there must have a sponsor, and this process is arranged months in advance.
There is no freedom of entry and exit for foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, workers must have permission from their sponsors. Many foreigners have suffered because of this law due to the fact that some sponsors generally confiscate workers’ passports with the intent of denying them exiting the country so that they can continue working for them. However, workers from other Arabian Gulf countries do not need a visa to enter and live in Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch
According to Human Rights Watch’s statement (HRW), Saudi Arabian law does not provide strong legal protection for migrant workers and domestic workers. As such, they face arbitrary arrests, unfair trials, and harsh punishments, and may falsely be accused of a crime. According to a report from Amnesty International the foreign workers who are charged are often unable to follow court proceedings, as they are often unable to speak the language and are not given interpreters or legal counsel.
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