15 June 2017•Update: 15 June 2017
By Alpha Kamara
DAKAR, Senegal
The authorities in Guinea arrested five suspected human traffickers in the capital Conakry late Wednesday.
Guinea’s police spokesman said on national television that the traffickers arrested at the airport included three Sierra Leoneans, who were part of a network operating in Conakry and Freetown cities.
The network smuggles domestic maids to the Middle East especially Kuwait, he said.
The spokesman said eleven victims were also arrested and that they will be prosecuted.
Since 2015, the Sierra Leone government frowned at the recruitment of Sierra Leonean maids to the Middle East after series of reports and concerns of grave Human Rights abuses.
A Sierra Leonean diplomat in Kuwait, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to media, told Anadolu Agency that some Sierra Leoneans are in connivance with Kuwait-based recruitment agencies, which give fake promises to female workers to embark on this act.
“When they are trafficked to Kuwait and other Middle East countries, they are forced to do all kinds of odd jobs and some are sometimes sexually and physically abused,” he added.
A Sierra Leonean maid, who is now trapped in Kuwait, told Anadolu Agency that she fled her master’s house last week because she could not cope with the high amount of work.
“I work 18 hours a day with no food and medical care. I am the last to go to bed usually around 02.00 a.m. and wake up at 05.00 a.m,” she said on phone on condition of anonymity due to security reasons.
“My passport and documents have been seized by my employer. I want to return to Sierra Leone but I have no documents and money to facilitate my trip,” she added.
