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Few trafficked African women supported after Gulf abuse

Charity aims to assist survivors through rehab

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Survivors get access to justice, income chances

By Nita Bhalla

NAIROBI, June 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Emily Ounyesiga, 38, beams with pride as she talks about the bakery she runs in Uganda's capital Kampala - a dynamic, busy area filled with the sweet aromas of freshly baked bread and pastries.

In 2017, Ounyesiga was deceived 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 income of $400 - six times more than she could earn in Uganda. Instead, over a period of four years, Ounyesiga was oppressed, starved, raped and even jailed.

"When I went back to Uganda, I was so ill and frail," the mother of 2 informed Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation through a video call.

"But I was luckier than many. I got aid. I was taken to a healthcare facility to get treatment, offered with a location to stay, and given training where I found out baking and had the ability to rebuild my life. Now, I feel I have a bright future."

Ounyesiga is among just a couple of African ladies who, after being made use of as domestic employees in the Middle East, have actually handled to create a brand-new course with assistance from worldwide charity EverFree. The organization runs in Uganda and the Philippines, supplying survivors of human trafficking with shelters, medical and psychosocial care and skills training.

Monica Kyamazima, head of EverFree in Uganda, stated the charity has actually assisted numerous girls however numerous more remain trapped in poverty 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 live in modern-day slavery and exploitation internationally - yet less than 1% get the aid they need after they escape.

"Recovery and rehab is key for survivors," stated Kyamazima. "If this does not happen, some will be wind up victims again and their trauma will continue."

TRAFFICKED AND ENSLAVED

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Lebanon have actually for years counted on countless low-paid foreign workers to work as house maids, care-givers, baby-sitters, motorists and .

More than 68% of the oil-rich Gulf region's population are migrants, many from Asia and Africa, the United Nations states.

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

The destination nations have long dealt with criticism from rights groups for a sponsorship system that leaves migrant employees available to abuse and exploitation.

Under the "kafala" system, a foreign domestic employee's legal status is connected to their company and they can not alter tasks or leave the nation without permission.

This has actually led to widespread abuses - from passport confiscation, unsettled wages and extreme work hours to whippings and even rape by family members.

Rights groups implicate recruitment firms of trafficking by tempting poor females from little towns and villages under false pretenses with the guarantee of well-paid jobs.

A lot of these ladies believe these tasks provide an uncommon chance to conserve cash and purchase land, build a home, begin a little business or pay their childrens' school costs.

But the reality can be quite various.

"I went as a nanny, however instead the madam forced me to do other tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and even working for her local catering organization," said Ounyesiga.

"When the madam took a trip, her other half would rape me. I informed her what he had actually done, but she simply gave me a Panadol and cautioned me not to go to the police," she included.

Ounyesiga stated she was paid less than half of what she was assured by the recruitment agent and after withstanding more than three years of abuse, she went to the authorities in Abu Dhabi.

The cops, nevertheless, refused to help her - accusing her of violating her work agreement. She was imprisoned for 6 months before being deported home to Uganda in 2021.

TRANSFORMING PAIN INTO PURPOSE

Derek Kigenyi, deputy coordinator of the national coordination office for the prevention of trafficking personallies at Uganda's ministry of internal affairs, said the federal government had taken actions to avoid the abuse of people.

It signed bilateral arrangements with some Arab nations to make sure much better protection for Ugandans and set up a site where only vetted work companies are allowed to advertise jobs.

But he stated Ugandan embassies in Gulf nations did not have the essential personnel.

"We don't have jurisdiction to try these cases in Uganda and we do not have the legal personnel in the Middle East to represent victims and go after the employers," said Kigenyi.

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

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

EverFree likewise trains survivors in skills like baking, tailoring and jewelry-making so they can begin a business and earn money, and it works to inform ladies about the risks of unlicensed recruitment firms.

Ounyesiga said EverFree helped transform her pain into purpose, including that her experience could provide intend to other survivors.

"I have managed to begin my own bakeshop. Now, I prepare to use victims of human trafficking who have actually suffered in the Middle East." (Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://context.news/)