More than 70 Kenyan women have come forward to share harrowing accounts of abuse while working as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, according to a new report by Amnesty International released in Mombasa on Tuesday.
The report details widespread exploitation, including deception by recruitment agencies, denial of rest days, withheld wages, and severe working conditions tantamount to forced labor.
One survivor, Bigeni Maina Mwangi, recounted how she was promised a beautician job in Saudi Arabia, only to find herself forced into domestic servitude. “The contract I signed in Nairobi was changed the moment I landed,” Mwangi said. “The agent told me I had no choice but to work.”
Mwangi spent 17 months working without pay before being sent back to Kenya—still without receiving her wages. A later move to Oman in 2020 subjected her to even worse conditions. “I worked in three houses non-stop, often without food,” she said.
Another woman, Mejuma Shaban Ali, described being misled at Kenya’s main airport in 2014. After escaping an abusive employer by pretending to take out the trash, she sought refuge at the Kenyan Embassy—only to be advised to find another employer to repay her recruitment costs. Her original employer had confiscated her passport, forcing her into undocumented work through a broker.
Amnesty International urged the Kenyan and Saudi governments to extend labor protections to domestic workers, prosecute exploitative employers, and shut down rogue recruitment agencies. The report also calls for stronger consular support for workers in distress.
“There are people suffering in Oman with no way out,” Ali said, appealing for urgent government intervention.
Amnesty Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton described the situation as “modern slavery” and pressed for immediate reform.
More than 150,000 Kenyans are estimated to be working as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.
In response to rising cases of exploitation, Kenya’s government has recently begun cracking down on unethical recruitment agencies. In April, the Ministry of Labour facilitated the return of over 100 Kenyans who had been stranded in Myanmar and Thailand after falling victim to fraudulent agents.
