On a concealed mobile phone from her place of confinement, Fikirte, an Ethiopian domestic worker, recounts her distressing ordeal. She was flown from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia, where she labored for weeks, cleaning floors and evading unwanted advances from a married Saudi couple. Eventually, hunger and exhaustion caused her to faint.
Unpaid and deemed too weak for the job, Fikirte was sent back to a recruitment agency in Riyadh. There, she and other foreign workers were confined to a locked room, their passports and cellphones confiscated, while awaiting new assignments.
Fikirte, a 31-year-old mother from northern Ethiopia, had put her faith in a government advertisement she saw on Facebook. It promised safe jobs and steady incomes for Ethiopian women seeking domestic work in Saudi Arabia. However, human rights researchers have decried the program, citing hazardous working conditions, exploitation, and rampant abuse of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.
Despite the warnings, the Ethiopian government views the migrant-worker program as an opportunity to alleviate its severe foreign-currency shortage. To attract women like Fikirte, the government has heavily utilized Facebook, with over 200 Ethiopian state institutions promoting the Saudi recruitment drive and enticing women to register.
The posts on Facebook by government ministries, district administrations, and state media often mislead women, portraying the program as a solution to their problems without mentioning the absence of labor law protections in Saudi Arabia. Instead, migrant workers are subject to the country’s discriminatory “kafala” or sponsorship system, which effectively binds their legal residency to their employer.
In her hometown, Fikirte registered for the recruitment program after seeing a Facebook ad. She left her son and joined a state-run training program with other recruits, learning basic Arabic and cleaning skills. She was then flown to Saudi Arabia, where she found herself in the employ of a married couple who provided little food and subjected her to unwanted advances.
Feeling deceived by the Facebook advertising and government assurances of safety, Fikirte spoke out about the risks and the lack of care provided by those who facilitated her journey. Reports on Saudi recruitment practices reveal that brokers often mistreat domestic workers, yet these risks are absent from the Ethiopian government’s promotional Facebook posts.
Despite criticism from rights groups, the Ethiopian government defends the recruitment campaign, stating that it has improved working conditions and salaries through discussions with Saudi Arabia. However, previous initiatives by Ethiopia’s labor ministry have failed to protect migrants, and agreements with other countries have offered no safeguards or minimum salary for Ethiopian workers.
By spreading misinformation about the Saudi jobs on Facebook, the Ethiopian government fuels concerns of potential human trafficking and forced labor in Saudi Arabia. State-run academic institutions have also used Facebook to encourage women to abandon their studies for migrant work. This institutional manipulation throws into question the commitment of Ethiopian officials to protect their citizens.
Non-payment of workers, recruitment fees imposed on recruits, and the weak labor laws in Saudi Arabia further compound the risks for Ethiopian migrants. Although Meta, the parent company of Facebook, claims to have rules against human trafficking and exploitation, the effectiveness of its efforts remains questionable.
The partnership agreement between Meta and the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor and Skills adds another layer of complexity, given Meta’s history of allowing hate speech posts during Ethiopia’s civil war. While Meta insists that its partnership is aimed at providing digital skills to local businesses, concerns linger regarding the company’s role in facilitating the recruitment campaign and its content moderation policies.
As the Ethiopian government continues to push its recruitment drive amid ongoing criticism, the well-being and rights of Ethiopian migrant workers remain at stake. The Facebook campaign may inadvertently contribute to human exploitation, calling for urgent action to address the risks faced by these vulnerable individuals.
