Five Kenyan women who migrated to Saudi Arabia for work have revealed that they are ‘trapped’ in the Asian country, as their children, born outside marriage, are denied birth certificates and legal documentation.
Without these papers, the children are considered ‘stateless’, preventing them from being issued exit visas and even access to basic rights such as schooling.
The five women interviewed by the British newspaper, The Guardian, shared harrowing accounts of fleeing abusive employers who confiscated their identity documents.
The women are now confronted with a big issue. Their children, conceived during relationships with other migrant workers, remain unregistered due to Saudi Arabia’s strict laws against premarital sex. This situation often leads to dire consequences for the mothers, including potential prosecution and imprisonment.
These women report that their children were born from relationships with fellow migrants. Currently, they all find themselves as single mothers and several have indicated that the fathers of their children left them out of fear of being arrested for engaging in extramarital relations.
One domestic worker who relocated to Riyadh shared her experience of rushing to a nearby hospital in labor. She was met with hostility from the staff, who threatened to involve the authorities.
“They said they would send me to jail if I didn’t bring [the necessary] documents. I was so afraid to go to jail with labour pains. I pretended like I was strolling around the hospital. Then, I just walked out of the gate and went back to my house,” she gave birth five minutes after entering her accommodation in Riyadh.
She added, “I cut the umbilical cord and cleaned myself. I cleaned my baby and wrapped him in a blanket. It was scary, but I just had to do it. There was nobody else to help me.”
The Kenyan worker reported that she escaped from her employer’s home after experiencing sexual harassment and physical abuse. Additionally, her employer had taken her passport, further trapping her.
She has been working informal jobs since then but has been trying to leave Saudi Arabia for the past two years because her son, now eight, has been unable to go to school.
“The authorities here are not too concerned about the babies and their mothers,” she stated. “We want our kids to go to school. They’re missing a lot in their early childhood education. It’s essential and our babies are missing that opportunity.”
Another woman narrated her struggles, saying, “I have to beg for vegetables from the grocery shop and unsold bread and milk for my child.”
According to the mothers, they have made several attempts over the last two years to get help to leave Saudi Arabia and say the Kenyan embassy refuses to process exit visas for Kenyans who have stateless children.
“The people at the Kenyan embassy say we are prostitutes,” another woman with a young child told the publication. “They forget that some of these babies are from cases of rape by their boss or the driver of the house you’re working in. It’s very painful.”
While responding to the claims, Kenyan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Ruwange, refuted the claims saying the government is working to resolve the impasse.
“The embassy wishes to affirm that it attends to the entire Kenyan diaspora population with utmost respect, decorum, diligence, and professionalism. Specifically, on this sensitive matter involving minors and the inherent danger of child trafficking, the embassy has assisted and continues to assist the affected Kenyan mothers within the applicable laws of both the Republic of Kenya and the host country,” said Ruwange.
Read the Original article on https://www.kenyans.co.ke
