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Nigerian women working in Iraq are being exploited in various ways, according to the Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Prof Fatima Waziri-Azi.
In a statement, Waziri-Azi revealed that many of these women worked as domestic workers in Iraq and were exploited on a daily basis. As a result, many are now seeking assistance to return home.
Waziri-Azi went on to say that NAPTIP was investigating several rogue labour recruiters who were reportedly major players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians for domestic servitude in Iraq.
She also noted that awareness by the agency and other partners about the well-known destination countries across the globe had caused traffickers to shift their attention to Iraq.
“We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra where they are distributed to homes by their recruiters to a hard life of domestic servitude.
“Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo.
“Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work.
“Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo.
“Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work.
“They are constantly under threat of being harmed either by their direct employers or the Iraqi agents, each time they complained of unbearable workload.
“Many of them have no access to their phones because their phones are seized immediately, they are paired with an employer
They are never allowed out of the premises where they are serving and even when communication is established with them for rescue, they cannot give details of their location,” she said.
