Few trafficked African women supported after Gulf abuse
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Charity aims to assist survivors through rehab
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Survivors get access to justice, livelihood opportunities

By Nita Bhalla

NAIROBI, June 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Emily Ounyesiga, 38, beams with pride as she speaks about the bakery she runs in Uganda’s capital Kampala - a lively, dynamic space filled with the sweet fragrances of freshly baked bread and pastries.

In 2017, Ounyesiga was fooled by a recruitment agent and trafficked to work as a live-in baby-sitter in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

She was promised a month-to-month wage of $400 - 6 times more than she might earn in Uganda. Instead, over a period of four years, Ounyesiga was shackled, starved, raped and even jailed.

“When I went back to Uganda, I was so sick and frail,” the mother of two informed Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation via a video call.

“But I was luckier than a lot of. I got aid. I was required to a hospital to get treatment, supplied with a place to stay, and offered training where I discovered baking and was able to restore my life. Now, I feel I have an intense future.”

Ounyesiga is one of just a couple of African females who, after being made use of as domestic employees in the Middle East, have actually managed to forge a new course with support from worldwide charity EverFree. The company runs in Uganda and the Philippines, offering survivors of human trafficking with shelters, medical and psychosocial care and skills training.

Monica Kyamazima, head of EverFree in Uganda, stated the charity has helped hundreds of girls but much more stay trapped in hardship and suffering after returning from the Gulf.

In 2024 alone, the charity supported 353 survivors of human trafficking.

According to EverFree, more than 50 million people reside in modern-day slavery and exploitation globally - yet less than 1% get the help they require after they leave.

“Recovery and rehabilitation is key for survivors,” said Kyamazima. “If this does not happen, some will be end up victims again and their trauma will continue.”

TRAFFICKED AND ENSLAVED

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and have actually for years relied on millions of low-paid foreign workers to work as housemaids, care-givers, baby-sitters, chauffeurs and guard.

More than 68% of the oil-rich Gulf area’s population are migrants, lots of from Asia and Africa, the United Nations states.

They consist of hundreds of countless females from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria, to name a few countries. Figures from the International Labour Organization show about 270,000 Ugandans migrated to the Middle East between 2016 and 2023, generally to operate in the care sector.

The location countries have long faced criticism from rights groups for a sponsorship system that leaves migrant workers open to abuse and exploitation.

Under the “kafala” system, a foreign domestic worker’s legal status is connected to their employer and they can not change tasks or leave the country without authorization.

This has actually led to extensive abuses - from passport confiscation, unsettled salaries and excessive work hours to whippings and even rape by home members.

Rights groups accuse recruitment firms of trafficking by tempting bad women from small towns and villages under incorrect pretences with the guarantee of well-paid jobs.

A lot of these women believe these jobs use an unusual opportunity to conserve money and buy land, develop a home, begin a small service or pay their kids’ school costs.

But the reality can be rather different.

“I went as a baby-sitter, however instead the madam forced me to do other jobs such as cleansing, cooking, and even working for her local catering company,” stated Ounyesiga.

“When the madam took a trip, her other half would rape me. I informed her what he had actually done, however she just gave me a Panadol and alerted me not to go to the authorities,” she added.

Ounyesiga said she was paid less than half of what she was assured by the recruitment representative and after sustaining more than three years of abuse, she went to the police in Abu Dhabi.

The police, however, declined to help her - implicating her of breaking her work agreement. She was imprisoned for 6 months before being deported home to Uganda in 2021.

TRANSFORMING PAIN INTO PURPOSE

Derek Kigenyi, deputy organizer of the national coordination office for the avoidance of trafficking in individuals at Uganda’s ministry of internal affairs, said the government had taken actions to avoid the abuse of residents.

It signed bilateral agreements with some Arab countries to make sure better defense for Ugandans and set up a site where only vetted employment service are permitted to market jobs.

But he said Ugandan embassies in Gulf countries did not have the required personnel.

“We don’t have jurisdiction to attempt these cases in Uganda and we don’t have the legal personnel in the Middle East to represent victims and pursue the companies,” said Kigenyi.

Providing survivors with access to justice, EverFree has helped in the prosecution of recruitment representatives in Uganda on charges of human trafficking, Kyamazima said.

The traffickers were imprisoned, recruitment licenses were withdrawn and the agencies were purchased to pay settlement, she said.

EverFree also trains survivors in abilities like baking, tailoring and jewelry-making so they can begin an organization and make money, and it works to inform women about the risks of unlicensed recruitment companies.

Ounyesiga said EverFree helped change her pain into function, adding that her experience could offer hope to other survivors.

“I have actually managed to begin my own bakeshop. Now, I prepare to use victims of human trafficking who have suffered in the Middle East.” (Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla