Modern slavery: The human cost of Kenya’s Gulf labour pipeline

Grace Achieng, a 31-year-old mother of one, left her home in Kayole, Nairobi, Kenya, hoping to secure a teaching profession in the Gulf. To her surprise, she ended up becoming a domestic worker. The agents who promised her a professional teaching job were nowhere to be found. Immediately after her arrival at the Gulf, her passport and personal documents were confiscated, depriving her rights to ownership. Grace’s story is just one of the many.

At least 274 Kenyan workers, most of whom are women, have died in Saudi Arabia over the past five years despite being a young workforce in non-dangerous jobs. Thousands of Ugandan and Kenyan women travel to Saudi Arabia each year to take up domestic jobs such as housekeepers and nannies. But many are returning with stories of unpaid wages, detention, beatings, starvation, and sexual assault. Others have returned in coffins.

An estimated 50 million people– almost the population of Kenya – are trapped in slavery, according to the landmark report by the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

“On my arrival at Sharjah International Airport in Dubai, I was met by a woman who I thought was my potential employer; to my disbelief, she was an agent, and she was responsible for assigning me a home where I was going to work as a domestic worker,” Grace narrates.

“She rudely suggested that if I didn’t want the job, she could gladly get me a ticket back to Kenya. My heart sunk in regret, to imagine I left my home and my son without a bread winner. I had to swallow all my pride and take up the job.”

Her paper of declaration stated that she went to Saudi Arabia to cook, clean, and take care of children. She was forced to recite these words from a paper held on one hand by the agent and a camera recording her on the other hand without her consent.

A 2022 study by the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) revealed that an estimated 98.24% of Kenyan migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have experienced forced labor. This includes various forms of abuse such as wage theft, excessive working hours, and restrictions on movement, often under the restrictive "kafala" system that ties workers to a single employer and limits their ability to leave or change jobs.

Nasreen Sheikh survived modern slavery in a sweatshop in Kathmandu, where she spent up to 15 hours a day standing at a textile machine at the age of 10. She escaped and became an anti-modern slavery activist, social entrepreneur, and author.

“I know first-hand the impact of this devastating crime on people’s lives –stripping them of their humanity and destroying their livelihoods. The scale of suffering caused by contemporary forms of slavery is reminiscent of the genocides of the last century. The world cannot stand by and watch while millions endure such abuses,” says Sheikh. “Faceless casualties are generated every day through the purchasing decisions of unconscious consumption, and the blind eyes of a global economic system.”

In April 2025, the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking warned that millions of lives are at risk, as it urged the global community to take action to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking in its first landmark report.

Former UK Prime Minister, Baroness Theresa May, who chairs the Global Commission, has called the failure to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking a moral stain on humanity, affecting an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Despite commitments to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030 as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the world is at risk of failing to meet this objective.

“Suicide thoughts ran across my mind countless of times. A lot of people depended on me to make to make ends meet; my mother, my son and my younger siblings. I could not afford to fail them. I worked long hours without food or sleep, my body was fatigued and my menstrual state was sick,” Grace recounts.

“I decided to quit and move into another home. I knew for sure the treatment would not be different, but at least it would also not be the same. I did not know my passport would be confiscated and I would be sold to my employer. I was subjected to physical abuse anytime I tried to speak up for my rights. The owned me.”

Philemon Yang, President of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, says: “We must take a stronger stand against modern slavery and human trafficking. The launch of the Global Commission’s report will contribute to the dialogue and deliberations around this critical issue. Together, we must forge the diverse partnerships that are critical to our success. By uniting to drive transformative change, we can confront the challenges that enable exploitation to flourish.”

Grace managed to escape her employers and secure her papers, during which time she lived off her friends' support until she secured another job. She has plans to return home, to Kenya, once her income allows her to.

“I will highly advise young girls from Kenya to be very vigilant with agents who sell to them Gulf countries like heaven, It is better to do your research before you board a plane that will sell off your human rights and dignity,” she advises.