The Ghanaian government has suspended the recruitment of domestic workers to work in the Gulf States. According to a report from the Daily Graphic this was announced during a meeting of the Ghana Association of Private Employment Agencies (GHAPEA) by the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations Mr. Baffuor Awuah.
This is part of efforts by the government to curb the years of reported cases of abuses in these states. Several sub-Saharan African women have been duped into travelling to these countries under the guise of lucrative employment only to find themselves trapped and working in deplorable slave-like conditions.
Several human right organizations over the years has sought to draw attention to the plight of these workers and called for a ban of the issuance of the Visa-20. As well as called for the rectification of the ILO treaty offering protection to domestic workers across the globe. So far Kuwait seem to be the only state in the region who has taken some steps to improve the life of their domestic workers. According to the Human Rights Watch, new regulations protecting domestic workers include a minimum wage, the easing of employer transfer rules, and a law giving domestic workers enforceable rights.
A 2015 report by the Ghana immigration service suggested that there are 2000 Ghanaian women stranded in the Gulf States after being duped to travel there for none exiting lucrative jobs. Some of these women who made it back home told stories of their harrowing abuses and daunting escape.
Abuse cases
Several videos exposing the abuses suffered by some of these women has gone viral on YouTube. One such video shows a man who goes into the female domestic worker room at night to sexually abuse her with impunity. In another video a young lady was hanged upside down and caned to an inch of her life for allegedly misbehaving. Overwhelmed by reported case of such abuses, the Ghana Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has cautioned Ghanaians to be mindful of the dangers of working in the country as domestic workers. The warning is especially directed to women because in addition to physical abuse they are more venerable to sexual assault.
Human trafficking
Highlighting the need to combat human trafficking, Alberta Ampofo, the Deputy Head of the Anti-Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Assistant Superintendent urged GHAPEA members to exposed unscrupulous members and any illegal agencies within their organization.
