Wednesday, May 11, 2016
MOGADISHU (HOL) – Somalia’s government says it would go ahead with a plan to send domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in spite of new reports of abuses against Somali workers lured by the promise of well-paid jobs in the Middle Eastern country.
In January, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labour announced the opening of recruiting operations of domestic workers from Somalia as parts of a new push for a new mass recruitment drive following the ban by some African and Asian countries to allow their citizens in Saudi Arabia.
Osman Liban, Somalia deputy labour minister told reporters that the government was planning to send 2000 an advance 2000 Somali workers to Saudi Arabia.
“The plan is to send domestic workers, laborers, engineers, drivers and nurses.” He said on Tuesday.
Despite calls to ban Somali domestic workers from working in the kingdom slammed by human rights organizations for its treatment of domestic workers, largely from Africa and Asia, Mr. Libah hinted plans to send regular 50,000 Somali workers to Saudi Arabia each year.
Saudi employers have a history of abusing foreign domestic workers working in the world’s largest oil exporter in what former workers described as an exploitation of desperate Africans facing grim choices, forcing many countries to ban their citizens from going to Saudi Arabia for work.
Among the countries that recently banned its citizens from working in Saudi Arabia is Indonesia after two maids from the country were beheaded for murder in Saudi Arabia. Ethiopia, Kenya, Philippine and Uganda also joined the ban drive.
The development left domestic workers from Somalia the only alternative left for Saudi employers after most of African and Asians rejected their recruitment request.
Some of the former domestic workers described their work conditions‘grim’ with employers forced them to work extra hours, and at some point deprived them of sleep time.