Two women defending the rights of returnee domestic workers
Executive director at Global Justice-Kenya Valentine Cominetti.
What you need to know:
- They offer comprehensive support to survivors, such as medical care, psychological counselling, legal representation and reintegration programmes.
- They say handling cases of severe abuse, injuries, and deaths can be emotionally draining because of the traumatic stories and situations.
Ms Stephanie Marigu and Ms Valentina Cominetti met a survivor in 2023 who had returned from Saudi Arabia where she was working as a domestic worker.
Her employer burnt her left arm with boiling water as punishment after he discovered that she sent her family pictures of her swollen face to prove she was being mistreated and abused.
The survivor had managed to return home after her story went viral on social media, sparking outrage among Kenyans who funded her travel.
The two documented her evidence, not knowing how to go about the whole issue as the agency that had facilitated her travel had vanished, leaving the survivor’s family to cater for her medical expenses.
Out of mercy, the two chipped in and helped the family, but little did they know that the move would mark the beginning of a remarkable journey that would touch the lives of women who have gone through abuse in Saudi Arabia.
As time went by, cases of women being injured and others dying mysteriously in the gulf country kept surging, with families’ quest to seek justice for their loved ones becoming nothing but just a dream.
Ms Marigu, a human right lawyer, researcher and gender equality advocate, and Ms Cominetti, a journalist, said they were approached by other women with similar predicament from Saudi Arabia.
In May 2023, they started a documentation programme, birthing a non-profiting organisation identified as Global Justice Kenya (GJK), where they collected evidence of cases of injured returnees and killed migrants.
They formed the organisation with an aim of seeking reparative justice for victims of gross human rights violation and international crimes, especially in the gulf countries.
According to Ms Marigu, the organisation works with survivors and families of victims to advance their right to remedy, holding the network of the recruiting agencies accountable.
Victims are entitled to compensation under the Kenyan law, for the harms suffered while working. She said that this is supported by the statutory “Foreign Contract of Service” and “Form of Bond for Security for due performance,” which is signed by the recruitment agency, which takes the responsibilities and duty of care for the migrant before the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs for the entire duration of the contract that the migrant will be working.
With the agency taking the responsibilities of an employer of the migrant, the document is essential in establishing the liability of the agency for violations of the rights of the worker.
“Compensation not only provides a lifeline for survivors, allowing them to normalise their situation, rehabilitate and reintegrate in society, but importantly constitutes a deterrent, increasing the cost of the crime, cutting the oxygen of the perpetrators and paving the way to guarantee non-repetition for future generations," said Ms Marigu, the legal adviser and programme manager.
Ms Cominetti regretted that slave trade in the Middle East has never been shut down as it continues through legal channels of migration. She said recruitment agencies, which profit from enlisting domestic workers on terms that amount to modern-day slavery, often refuse to assist women suffering abusive conditions, fail to inform the relevant authorities and the families, and conceal reported deaths for months.
She said the domestic workers in Saudi Arabia continue to be subjected to a regulatory sponsorship system known as Kafala, which subjects them to slavery-like practices, causing deaths and injuries of thousands.
The Kafala system grants the employers power to control whether a worker can change employers or exit the country, making many employers feel entitled to exert 'ownership' over their foreign domestic workers, and resulting in thousands of the workers being auctioned either on the black market or online.
“GJK has initiated a programme intended to address the root causes of the continuous exploitation of African migrant domestic workers in Arab countries. This stream of abuse is not occasional, but widespread and systematic, a crime against humanit,” says Ms Cominetti, GJK executive officer.
At least 371 women died in Saudi Arabia in the course of their work between 2020 and June 2024 and 98.73 per cent of the Kenyan migrant labourers who recently returned from the Gulf countries were found to be victimised through some form of forced labour abuses.
So far, the organisation has collected evidence for more than 250 cases, and facilitated at least repatriations of five individuals in abusive conditions, as well as remains of those who did not make it.
As for now, it is focusing on the documentation phase of the programme as they first need time, which is necessary to establish a trust relationship with the victims before getting their evidence.
“The presence of a survivor in our team helps establishing relationships with other survivors and their informal networks of support, yet the stigma attached to victimisation (especially sexual abuse) requires a soft and patient approach. It cannot be rushed up. Next stage will be establishing, which cases are the strongest from an evidentiary point of view and find the right lawyer to try such cases,” said Ms Marigu.
According to the organisation, the Central Bank of Kenya has reported that the Kingdom has surpassed the UK to become the second largest source of remittances after the US, contributing 62.3 per cent of the $91.79 million growth in total cash inflows.
Kenyans working in Saudi Arabia sent home remittances from Saudi Arabia for $246 million in the first eight months of 2023, compared to $188.8 million in the same period last year. Saudi Arabia is the fastest-growing source of remittances to Kenya, with payments having doubled over the last two years.
"We decided to focus on Kenyan migrant workers because, although employment-based abuses are not uncommon among migrant workers from the continent, such high rates of forced labour violations, injuries and deaths are truly rare, if not unprecedented, and call for massive efforts to address the situation," Ms Cominetti said.
The major challenge faced by the organisation is offering comprehensive support to survivors, such as medical care, psychological counselling, legal representation and reintegration programmes, which require significant resources and specialised expertise, which are often limited.
They note that handling cases of severe abuse, injuries, and deaths can be emotionally draining for team members because of the traumatic stories and situations that can lead to secondary trauma and compassion fatigue.
But despite the challenges, GJK's commitment to justice and advocacy for African migrant domestic workers remains steadfast, and it continues to strive for systemic change and the protection of vulnerable individuals.
