The Ministry of Labour is embroiled in a court dispute with rights groups over the government's duty to protect Kenyan domestic workers in Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, from exploitation and modern-day slavery.
The petition was filed by Kituo Cha Sheria-Legal Advice Centre, Haki Jamii Rights Centre and 12 families of victims of violations in the Gulf countries.
It claims that the government, through the Ministry of Labour, the Kenya National Employment Authority and other State agencies, has neglected its duty to prevent the trafficking of domestic workers migrating to the Middle East.
It claims that some private recruitment agencies have been deceptively luring Kenyan job seekers with high pay promises in the Middle East, where the workers are abandoned with low-quality jobs and abusive employers.
Some end up dead in unclear circumstances, others are abused, tortured, imprisoned, deported or missing, the case alleges.
The lawsuit claims that the number of Kenyan migrant workers has been rising over the years, with close to 97,000 being in Saudi Arabia despite outcry on the poor working conditions, harassment, mistreatment and mysterious deaths.
The rights groups want the suspension of labour migration to the Middle East until the government demonstrates that there are basic minimum measures to prevent the trafficking and exploitation of Kenyan domestic workers in foreign countries.
"We seek an order directed at the state to ensure establishment of labour offices, consulate and embassy presence and safe houses in all Middle East labour destination countries accessible to any Kenyan in distress and a status report be presented to this court within one year of the court’s judgment," they plead.
The case is founded on media reports of violations of human rights for migrant domestic and other workers in the Middle East countries such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The alleged violations include physical, psychological and sexual abuse, trafficking, confiscation of travel documents by agencies and employers, confiscation of mobile phones and communication restriction and withholding of salaries.
Other alleged violations include contract substitution of terms of employment replacing agreed pacts with harsh conditions, food and sleep deprivation, rape, forced suicide, slavery and servitude. Also listed are murder and imprisonment before deportation over cooked-up charges, among others.
"The rise in unemployment and underemployment in Kenya has led to many Kenyans seeking greener pastures and an estimated 30,000 Kenyans migrate to the Middle East to work each year. Most of the workers are recruited and shipped to their work stations through local and foreign private employment agencies based in Kenya and the Middle East," reads the petition.
The co-petitioners include women directly affected by trafficking and families of victims of the alleged violations committed by employers in Gulf states.
The petitioners allege the State violated the Constitutional rights to freedom from slavery in allowing young unsuspecting Kenyan workers to be sent to the Middle East, "where they are trapped in servitude under the Kafala system without adequate protection from the state".
The government is also accused of neglecting its legal obligation to prevent, protect and respond to human trafficking for labour exploitation affecting the citizens, particularly women, working as domestic workers in foreign countries.
Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua before the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare in Nairobi on May 6, 2025.
The petition seeks a raft of remedies, such as an order for fresh vetting of all local employment agencies, which they believe will address alleged gross human rights and fundamental freedoms violations.
They want a declaration that the victims of Middle East abuses are entitled to effective protection by the state against modern day slavery, human trafficking, violence, physical injury, threats, deportation, rape, death and other human rights violations.
It is claimed that the state failed and abdicated its responsibility to protect the migrant workers.
Also sought is a declaration that the government's failure to enact the Labour Migration Management Bill and a comprehensive and harmonized labour migration policy that oversees labour exportation has increased the vulnerability of Kenyan migrant workers to abuse and human rights violations.
The petitioners want the court to compel the state to meet any medical and psychosocial costs incurred by the migrant workers and their families as a result of the death and abuse.
The other parties in the petition include victims and families of victims of the alleged violation of human and labour rights, Commission on Administration of Justice, the Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies, Kenya and the Kenya Association of Private Employment Agencies.
Others are the Initiative for strategic litigation in Africa (Isle) and Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (Fida – Kenya) and the Kenya union of domestic, hotel, educational institution and hospital workers (KUDHEIHA).
