By Nyang’au Araka

Many migrant Kenyan women hired as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia endure gruelling, abusive and discriminatory working conditions, a new report by Amnesty International (AI) report.

AI describes the unfolding situation as a classic example of forced labour and human trafficking.

 “The women are subjected to extreme exploitation in private homes, often fuelled by racism,”  AI said in a press release on Tuesday.

Further, the report shows how domestic workers continue to be excluded from Saudi Arabia’s labour law and other limited reforms.

Titled, “Locked in, left out: the hidden lives of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia”, the report has documented the experience of more than 70 women who previously worked in Saudi Arabia.

Respondents disclosed that they were deceived by recruiters in Kenya about the nature of their jobs, once in Saudi Arabia.

However, when they got there, the women 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”, said Irungu Houghton, Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya.

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

AI is now mounting pressure on Kenya and Saudi to come clean on this matter that sometimes claims the lives of innocent women in the hands of their employers turned torturers.

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

“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.”

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

“This made me feel like it’s a prison”

KPC has learnt that extreme overwork was a universal problem for the dozens of women that spoke to AI, with a typical workday consisting of a minimum of 16 hours, often more.

The work included cleaning, cooking and looking after children.

The women were paid on average SAR 900 (USD 240) per month, and none were compensated overtime, meaning their average wage when considering working hours equated to around USD 0.5 per hour.

Moreover, some employers delayed the women’s salaries or did not pay them at all.

Amnesty said that virtually all the women interviewed reported never being given a day off during their stay in Saudi Arabia – up to two years for some.

A former domestic workers was quoted as saying that her employer “didn’t think that I could get tired and 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.”

All the women who were interviewed said they faced severe restrictions on their freedom and privacy.

They had their phones confiscated and this cut them off from the outside world, leading to severe isolation and denying them contact with their families.

Another former domestic worker given the name Joy to protect her true identity disclosed how she felt trapped during her time in Saudi Arabia.

“I had no freedoms, because 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,” she said.

The investigation revealed that isolation was used to deter the workers from complaining about their conditions.

“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,” an interviewee said.

Despite the excessive workload, almost all the women said that their employers deprived them of food or gave them only leftovers, leaving some to survive on bread, or dried instant noodles.

Some were only giving leftovers, rotten food or sometimes nothing at all, and the employers could even throw food cooked by the servants in the bin.

Most women also described being provided with wholly inadequate living conditions.

They were often made to sleep in a store cupboard, or on the floor of a child’s bedroom, and without a proper bed, bedding or working air conditioning.

“The husband said ‘you will do what I want’”

Many of the women recounted how they were shouted at, called names and humiliated, while others were sexually assaulted, and in some cases raped, by their male employers.

This included Judy, a single mother of two who had come to Saudi Arabia to escape her abusive husband.

“He did rape me and even threatened me not to tell the wife. I kept quiet. It was like his daily routine… I tried (to tell him stop) but men are very strong. So eventually he did rape me, five times,” she said.

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.

“They called us monkeys or baboons”

The report also highlights how systemic racism embedded in the kafala sponsorship system, coupled with entrenched discriminatory attitudes rooted in the legacies of slavery and British colonialism in the region.

This perpetuates the exploitation, abuse and racial discrimination of these workers, particularly women, whose gendered vulnerabilities are often compounded by their status as migrant domestic workers.

Many of the women described their employers calling them highly derogatory and racist names, including “hayawana” (animal), “khaddama” (servant) and “sharmouta” (prostitute).

Employers would also talk disparagingly about their skin colour, comment on their body odour or prevent them from using the same cutlery or homeware as the family.