Suicide soars among Ugandan migrants abused in the Middle East
Kampala— Ugandan domestic worker Shahira begged her employer in Oman to let her go home, after he sexually harassed her, and his wives spat at her and threw soiled nappies and water at her. But her pleas only triggered further brutality. "He was holding a knife … he threw it," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, demonstrating how she ducked to avoid the blade as it flew towards her. "It cut me here," she said, declining to give her real name, pointing to scars on her wrists. Shahira is one of a growing number of Ugandans returning home from Oman with tales of abuse, such as employers confiscating their passports and phones, denying them food and working long hours without receiving their full salaries. In 2016, Uganda banned its nationals from working in Oman. But a parliamentary report documenting the deaths of 48 Ugandans in the Middle East since January — 34 by committing suicide — shows the ban is being flouted, sparking calls for more effective action. "We’ve never seen a ...
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