Report: Kenyan domestic workers go through hell in Saudi Arabia

When agents scouting for domestic workers to export abroad approach women already weathering hard life, they package the offer as life-changing and a death blow to poverty, but that's not all there is.

They don’t tell you about the racial abuse, being raped by employers, being denied food, among other hellish conditions.

In what is the proverbial jumping from the frying pan into the fire, a new Amnesty International report shows Kenyan women fleeing demeaning poverty at home, face unacceptable level of racism, abuse and exploitation while doing domestic work in the Middle East.

The document that details harrowing accounts by up to 70 women who have worked in the gulf country, shows that Kenyan women hired as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia endure gruelling abuse, which often amounts to forced labour and human trafficking.

The report highlights how employers subjected the women to extreme exploitation in private homes, often fuelled by racism, and how domestic workers continue to be excluded from Saudi Arabia’s labour law and other limited reforms.

The report titled 'Locked in, left out: The hidden lives of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia' comes as the Kenyan government is on the overdrive to recruit labourers for external markets.

The women said that during recruitment, they are sold heaven only to land in hell.

They told researchers they were “deceived by recruiters in Kenya about the nature of their jobs, once in Saudi Arabia they were made to work under brutal conditions, regularly toiling for more than 16 hours, being denied days off and prevented from ever leaving the house”.

The women also faced awful living conditions and inhumane treatment including sexual, verbal and physical assault. Employers typically confiscated their passports and phones and sometimes withheld their wages.

“These women travelled to Saudi Arabia in search of work to support their families but instead endured unspeakable abuse in the homes of their employers,”  Amnesty International Kenya executive director Irungu Houghton said.

 “The Kenyan government is actively encouraging labour migration, and the Saudi Arabian authorities claim they have introduced labour rights reforms, yet behind closed doors domestic workers continue to face shocking levels of racism, abuse and exploitation.”

“The Saudi and Kenyan authorities must listen to these women, whose labour sustains families and contributes significantly to the economic development of both countries."

"The Saudi authorities should urgently grant domestic workers equal protection under the labour law, introduce an effective inspection system to tackle widespread abuses in private homes, and fully dismantle the Kafala sponsorship system that binds foreign workers to employers, fosters exploitation and perpetuates systemic racism,” Irungu added.

Neither the Saudi nor the Kenyan authorities responded to Amnesty’s request for comment or information.

They were paid on average Sh30,909 (Which is Saudi Riyal 900) per month, and none were paid overtime.

Moreover, some employers delayed the women’s salaries or did not pay them at all. Virtually all the women interviewed reported never being given a day off during their stay in Saudi Arabia – up to two years for some.

Rashida (not her real name) told the lobby that while she worked in the country, her employer believed she was a robot that could not be tired.

“There was no chance to rest... I would work for her the whole day and then even at night, I would still be working. I felt like a donkey and even donkeys find rest.”

Once in the household, they have no privacy and their phones and passports are confiscated to cut them off from the outside world, leading to severe isolation and denying them contact with their families.

For Joy, “once you are inside you never go out. You don’t go out and do not see out. This made me feel like it’s a prison.”

For example, Eve told researchers that the boss told her she was a slave, having paid everything for her.

“The first thing my boss did was to take my passport. If you ask, they will tell you ‘I have paid for everything for you,’…and you will not dare to say anything because you are in a foreign country.”

Katherine, said that “food was the main problem” and she “survived on biscuits”, with her employer only giving her leftovers, rotten food or sometimes providing nothing at all, and even throwing food that Katherine cooked for herself in the bin.

While many were too afraid to report the abuse to the Saudi authorities or the Kenyan embassy, those who did ended up facing retaliation or trumped-up charges, like being falsely accused of theft, and losing their wages.