*Trigger warning: Story mentions sexual violence.
As reported by Al Jazeera, women from Nigeria and other African countries are being duped by local “agents” who promise well-paying domestic jobs and favorable working conditions abroad. These agents arrange visas and send the women to Iraqi recruitment firms, earning commissions of about $500 per woman. Upon arrival, the women are required to sign two-year contracts and are assigned to work at grueling jobs, often 20-hour per day for meager monthly wages of $200 to $250. Many endure inhumane conditions, including lack of food, physical abuse, and inadequate living accommodations. Some, like Agnes*, also face sexual violence, with reports of extreme abuse leading to deaths.
“please help me get out of here”
Agnes’ nightmare began at the first home where she worked. Her Iraqi boss took away her phone and demanded that she work all day without regular meals. When she refused, he sent her back to the recruitment agency and demanded a refund. Her two employers, furious over the financial loss she caused, beat her so badly that she had to wear a bandage over her eye for three days.
After enduring the physical assault from her employers, Agnes was sent to a second home. There, her boss raped her at gunpoint, resulting in pregnancy. He then forced her to undergo a painful abortion, leaving her with severe abdominal pain and unable to work. To compound her suffering, he refused to pay her six months of wages, leaving her penniless and unable to seek medical care.
She said on a phone call with Al Jazeera:
“If I knew what this country is like, I wouldn’t have come here. If I knew it’s not safe and there is no respect for life, I wouldn’t have come. I just thought I could also come here and hustle. Please help me get out of here,”
Another Nigerian woman, Eniola, says her boss forced her to work on only three to four hours of sleep. If she complained, she was tazed, hit with an iron rod, or burned with hot tea or water. It would be more than a year before Eniola found the courage to escape. Videos shared with Al Jazeera showed her with broken fingers, burn scars and other wounds on her body.
Many trapped in domestic servitude
Agnes and Eniola are just two of hundreds and maybe even thousands of women from African Countries deceived into domestic slavery in Iraqi cities. The targeted women are often from rural communities and have little frame of reference to what a normal workplace looks like.
Accelerating inflation has severely weakened Nigeria’s naira since 2019, driving Nigerians of all ages to leave the country in search of better opportunities. Damilola Adekola, co-founder of Hopes Haven Foundation, the organization trying to rescue Agnes, said:
“It’s a form of modern slavery,” … “These Iraqi agents and the families [the women work for] often tell them, ‘We’ve bought you, so you have to work.’ The contracts they sign go against any type of international law because there’s no medical care and they have to work obscene hours.”
Despite laws against labor trafficking, exploitation of migrant workers persists across the Middle East, where hundreds of thousands from African and Asian countries face a heightened risk of trafficking, according to the IOM. Under the “kafala” system, legal in countries like Lebanon, employers cover workers’ travel and documentation costs, using this as leverage to confiscate passports, withhold pay, and deny workers the right to change jobs. Recruitment agencies further profit by auctioning workers’ contracts online.
In Iraq, it remains unclear how authorities intend to address the agents and employers involved in the trafficking and abuse. Though, one case highlighted on Nigerian social media has reportedly prompted an investigation. In a statement, Iraq’s interior ministry told Al Jazeera it was not aware of Agnes’ and Eniola’s case but promised to investigate the matter.
Nigeria needs to do better
Activists accuse Nigerian authorities of neglecting to regulate the industry, enabling groups of women to travel to Middle Eastern countries for domestic work without proper documentation or a tracking system. Some reports also allege that staff from the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) accept bribes from local agents and deliberately ignore clear cases of exploitation at airports.
Adekola added:
“Immigration is never a crime, and we are not saying people should not find work abroad, but there should be a government system where these women are registered and taxed, even if it’s a small token,” … “With that, the government can monitor the women’s information and work situation. If these employers torturing them know that the ladies are being monitored by their government, they’ll not try what they’re doing to them.”
Officials at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Nigerian anti-trafficking agency, first sounded the alarm about the exploitative recruitment drives to Iraq in May 2023. An official also confirmed that Agnes’ and Eniola’s case are under investigation but did not provide a timeline for their repatriation. With no Nigerian embassy in Iraq, NAPTIP is coordinating efforts through the Nigerian consulate in Jordan.
Call on Iraq to protect domestic workers
Eniola confirmed she appeared in court with her former boss and received a year’s worth of unpaid salary. Wanting only to return home, she chose not to press charges against the Iraqi woman, an authorities plan to make her former boss pay for her flight back to Nigeria. Meanwhile, several other Nigerian women remain in detention for various offences, including conflicts with their employers, overstaying their residence permits, or “taking salaries and running away,” according to an Iraqi official.
Other women, like Agnes, are still trapped. Agnes is currently in a hostel in Basra owned by the recruitment firm. Despite being unable to work due to excruciating pain caused by her abortion, the agency refuses to send her home, insisting she must complete the remaining year of her contract. She can barely get out of bed and says she does not know if she is still pregnant since she has not seen her menstruation since the abortion. She is begging to be rescued because she does not want to die. Freedom United stands with Agnes and others like her, demanding they are rescued and receive the justice they deserve. Join us by calling on Iraq to protect domestic workers from abuse.
**Names of victims have been changed.
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