Labor export - the good, the bad, and the really ugly
Every year, millions of Africans leave home seeking better opportunities abroad. Too many return broken - if they return at all.
Take Emily, a young teacher who traveled to Saudi Arabia with dreams of earning a decent wage. She came back two years later, silent about her ordeal, confined not to a classroom but to a large household where her passport was held hostage. Her story isn't unique….and it isn’t confined to one region. From the Middle East to Europe and beyond, African workers face exploitation while their home governments remain largely passive. The question isn’t whether labor migration should continue - we know it will. The question is when we will finally create systems that people feel confident will actually them.
The Gulf States: A gift to Africans seeking work, and yet…
The Gulf States have become a magnet for African job seekers, but behind the economic opportunity lies a darker reality. Social media is often filled with reports of migrant worker abuse in the Middle East, including graphic imagery of people packed in holding cells begging to be released. People have always been aware of some risk, but still continue to make the journey. Young people, plagued by high unemployment and poverty, have been seeking domestic work opportunities in the Middle East since the 1990s. In 2005, in response to concerns about abuse of workers from this rapid expansion of migration for work, and also to regulate this rapidly growing billion-dollar stream of remittances, the government of Uganda made migrant labor externalization a policy objective, licensing local recruitment agencies. These polices have successfully increased opportunities for work abroad. Today there are over 160,000 Ugandans legally working in the Middle East. However, with weak enforcement of the regulations in place, it does not seem to have been equally effective at improving the experiences of workers, and reducing the ability of human traffickers to exploit workers.
Monica’s story, investigated by the BBC, exemplifies this tragic pattern. A young woman, promised work in a supermarket in Dubai but was instead forced into sex work. She died under suspicious circumstances just four months after arrival and leaving her family without answers or even her body to bury. It is unclear whether there was any registered agent involved in arranging her travel. What is known is that women constitute 82% of migrant domestic workers in the Middle East, and this exploitation can take many forms. Many recruitment agencies withhold workers’ passports, effectively trapping them; wages are often delayed or unpaid; working conditions rarely match what was promised, and workers have little recourse when conditions don’t match the promised job. Those who attempt to escape without their documents get stuck in holding cells for months as they await deportation.
In 2023, Uganda’s Ministry of Gender recorded over 800 complaints, with 42 deaths being registered.
Like Emily, many find themselves forced into situations completely different from what they were promised, whether confined in homes performing domestic duties or, like Monica, trapped in even more exploitative circumstances. Living and working under their employers' or traffickers' control due to tenuous visa status or inability to pay to have their passports returned exposes them to a high risk of abuse and little opportunity to find support if needed. The issue isn't the Gulf States; it's the absence of effective protection systems that should follow workers across borders, as well as the gaps in regulation that allow unscrupulous recruiters and employers to operate with impunity.
Beyond the Gulf: Moving to the Westward
Early this year, Ugandan UN Judge Lydia Mugambe was sentenced to over six years in a British prison for forcing a young Ugandan woman into unpaid domestic work while studying at Oxford. This story drew mixed reactions from the Ugandan populace because, on one hand, the young woman in question was given an opportunity to earn money she would only dream of had she remained in Uganda. And yet, on the other hand, there was some level of wrong doing, working without defined time off or little to no payment. This case likely gained attention due to the defendant’s prominent status as a UN judge, but it raises an uncomfortable question: if someone of her stature can be convicted for exploitation, what is going undetected elsewhere?
Challenges in dealing with an insurmountable problem
Workers, especially women in vulnerable positions, working with no safety nets for their physical, emotional, and financial well-being, without their home country's government stepping forward and making a more sincere effort to support its workers living abroad is the ask. But is it unreasonable or naive to expect one's government to prioritize safety of their citizens working abroad?
To ensure a safe working environment for its citizens and ensure benefits from remuneration, Uganda has signed bilateral agreements with some Gulf States. However, following the sharp increase of workers traveling to the Middle East post COVID-19, an increase in reports of Ugandans dying on account of physical abuse or suicide led the public to put pressure on the government to shut down what they term as ‘modern slavery’, and have the government suspend the agreements.
Knee jerk reactions to issues like these are never a solution. The suspension of these agreements are not likely to stop people from making the journey to seek employment. It almost certainly makes a precarious situation worse because there will be no method to track who finds illegal means of working there. The recent BBC investigation is a stark example of how limited legal options create an environment for unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of people desperate to seek better. It is also a sign that better enforcement of regulation should be a priority.
Uganda has taken important steps with its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, anchored in the UN Guiding Principles. It’s a step in the right direction. The plan establishes a framework for protecting workers and requires the registration and licensing of recruitment companies to regulate this billion-dollar industry.
However, the plan does not go as far as it can. It does not provide clear mechanisms for migrants to report employer abuse while abroad or access support services when needed. Despite the registration and licensing of companies to regulate this business, enforcement remains weak. Many workers are rarely given clear information about their actual duties, working hours, or legal rights, with some recruitment agencies using vague contracts and social media platforms to target vulnerable young people with glossy promises while hiding exploitative terms.
To get technical, we should do more for our people across all three Pillars of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Embassies overseas should serve as a source of refuge for workers, with employers made aware of this support system in accordance with the State duty to protect human rights. Recruiting companies must be held to a higher standard consistent with Corporate responsibility to respect human rights. And when protection fails, victims need accessible pathways for redress under Access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses.
The Bottom Line…
The economic incentives are undeniable - billions of dollars in remittances from the Middle East injected into the economy are extremely valuable both to individuals and their families who badly need this income as well as to the country. But the human cost is equally glaring. Families like Monica's still search for answers about the circumstances of their children’s death. Young women like Emily carry invisible scars that may never heal. These shouldn’t be brushed off as acceptable trade-offs for economic growth.
The choice before our governments is not whether to allow labor migration - that will continue regardless. The choice is whether to create systems that protect workers or to remain complicit in their exploitation through inaction. Real protection requires more than bilateral agreements on paper. It demands functioning oversight mechanisms, accessible reporting systems, and embassy staff trained to recognize and respond to exploitation.
We cannot continue to export our people while importing only their money and trauma. Better enforcement benefits everyone - legitimate agencies, workers who follow proper channels, and destination countries seeking regulated labor markets.
#HumanRights #LabourRights #AfricanLabour #AfricanDiaspora #CorporateResponsibility #ConsciousLeadership
