Unemployment, desperation, and promising profitable opportunities have pushed multiple young women to seek employment abroad.
Mostly, they are prompted to seek opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
Yes, it’s the right of anyone to look for work abroad as long as you meet the requirement as per law.
However, recent cases that we have heard in Saudi Arabia regarding Kenyans who have gone there as domestic workers are astonishing.
There have been a lot of violations, including overworking, sexual assault, torture, and starvation. This is clear, and it does not need any interpretation.
This is not the first time we have been watching stories illustrated with viral videos about Kenyan women migrant workers asking for help.
The majority have been requesting help on the means they can use to return to their home.
It’s very disturbing to see an honest young woman who travelled to look for greener pastures being subjected to slavery.
In most cases, they are told by the recruiting agencies that the environment is conducive and a very good monthly pay as some say.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. They work in harsh conditions and receive lower salaries than they expected.
It’s, therefore, high time a bold, decisive, and robust action be put in place to curb this dire situation now and in the future.
The Ministry of Labour should temporarily ban the recruitment of Kenyan domestic workers to Saudi Arabia.
The ban should continue until the time our government will come up and enact adequate measures which will ensure that our sisters in that country are safe.
Even though we know that Saudi Arabia is one of those countries that have high remittance inflows in our country, the government should not feel it hard to suspend the recruitment of domestic workers to that country.
Stringent requirements should also be put in place for the labour agencies that recruit them.
Student at Maasai Mara University
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
