6.1 Recommendations: The Way Forward - Oman

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This project has aimed at understanding and documenting the experience of Sierra Leonean women domestic workers in Oman victims of human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, but it also aims to provide recommendations that are most effective in preventing and addressing the issues identified.


There is great concern for the safety and wellbeing of women domestic workers in Oman from Sierra Leone and we welcome a positive and immediate intervention to prevent and address human trafficking and forced labour experienced by this community. We encourage the governments of Oman and Sierra Leone to take the necessary steps to prevent further human trafficking and exploitation, strengthen their protection for victims, and hold those responsible accountable. 

Based on the RT & NRT data collected and analysed, combined with our engagement with the community for 22 months, we put forward a set of 15 comprehensive recommendations directed to Oman. These recommendations are divided in two sections: Legal framework recommendations (8 recommendations), and recommendations for implementation and enforcement (7 recommendations). In addition, we have drafted 6 recommendations directed to Sierra Leone to strengthen implementation and enforcement. Based on our insights gathered over the monitoring period, we have drafted two recommendations that are addressed to both countries to respond to the current situation. 

All of the recommendations mentioned above (total 23) are by no means exhaustive and they may not provide answers to all existing issues. As foundational elements, our recommendations are meant to serve involved governments as a blueprint, supporting them in addressing some of the most severe issues surrounding human rights abuses identified. 

This research has been conducted in Oman, leading to a draft of detailed and comprehensive recommendations directed towards Oman. Recommendations, which are directed towards Sierra Leone are based on recruitment, repatriation and reintegration data as well as secondary data. Accordingly, those recommendations are more broad in nature. We recommend further research on the ground in Sierra Leone, leading to more detailed recommendations. 

 

Legal Framework Recommendations

These recommendations aim at closing the gaps in the legal framework and address incompatible laws and normalised practices that facilitate the prevalence of human trafficking and/or forced labour.

Decriminalise “absconding”, and reform laws accordingly so workers can leave abusive employment conditions and situations of forced labour without a penalty

The fear for domestic workers of having “absconding” charges filed against them and being arrested and deported keeps domestic workers in exploitative situations such as forced labour. In addition, “absconding” charges filed against domestic workers prevent the Government from effectively identifying victims of human trafficking, addressing forced labour and other forms of exploitation, and from holding accountable those responsible. We recommend: 

  • Completely decriminalising “absconding” with no interim steps. Decriminalising “absconding” charges is a fundamental step for addressing forced labour and other forms of abuse and exploitation directly. However, for this step to be effective, it must be done in tandem with the following recommendations:

Prohibit the request, facilitation and receipt of “release money” to prevent forced labour and abusive working and living conditions

The state-sanctioned practice of requesting “release money” allows recruitment offices and employers to avoid any financial loss whether or not domestic workers have been subjected to exploitative practices, abusive living conditions, or wage theft. Acceptance of this practice allows situations of forced labour and other forms of exploitation to continue and thrive. We recommend:

  • Drafting and approving a regulation that clearly prohibits the request, facilitation and receipt of “release money” by both employers and recruitment offices. Clearly prohibit employers and recruitment offices from asking domestic workers, their families or friends, to pay “release money” in exchange for allowing the worker to return home or change employment and must include the penalties related to requesting, facilitating and receiving “release money”. This regulation must be published on government sites, be available and accessible, and awareness of it must be promoted through government messaging or campaigns.
    • Clearly defining and raising awareness of the penalties for those requesting, receiving, and/or facilitating “release money”. Note: It is important that the actual paying of “release money” itself is not criminalised, only the requesting, facilitating, and receiving of “release money”, as this could lead to criminalising workers who were in exploitative conditions.
  • Prohibiting employers and recruitment offices from asking or forcing domestic workers to work without pay or to pay their way out of their employment relationship. Forcing a domestic worker to work her way out of the working relationship is an element that can constitute forced labour or debt bondage. 

Implementing this recommendation together with the recommendation on strengthening regulations of, and for recruitment offices. This recommendation will be more effective if it is implemented together with the efforts to decrease recruitment costs (see Strengthen regulations around recruitment offices).

Ensure legal protection and better working and living conditions for domestic workers through a comprehensive domestic workers’ law and work contract

Efforts made to protect domestic workers are currently not sufficient. We recommend drafting a new comprehensive domestic workers’ law and work contract, or revising Ministerial Decree 189/2004 and the domestic work contract, replacing all unconscionable clauses and addressing the current gaps to ensure protection and better working and living conditions. In particular:

  • Allow domestic workers to terminate a working contract without employers’ consent. This process must allow the domestic worker to:
    • Terminate their employment contract at any time and without having to provide a reason. The termination has to be done with due notice and it can be in verbal or written form
    • Leave and terminate a contract immediately if abuse is present. All allegations of abuse must be investigated by the relevant authorities with cooperation from the domestic worker and employer. If abuse is found, the employer must be held accountable, must pay lost and/or unpaid wages, and cover the domestic workers’ return ticket if she wishes to return home
    • Have access to a grievance mechanism to file a complaint for unpaid wages before or after leaving the employer as well if the worker decides to stay with the employer. The employer must present proof showing that the worker has received all of her dues, otherwise, the Government must compel the employer to pay owed salaries immediately. If the employer refuses to pay the due, the Government of Oman must assume responsibility for an alternative remedy, which should include her lost wages and return ticket costs if she wishes to return home. Domestic workers should not be required to stay in the country while waiting for a resolution to their grievance and provisions should be made for them to receive wages due, even if they have returned home. 
    • Have a grace period to find another employer or return home without losing her valid immigration status upon termination of employment
    • Return home without any legal charges filed against the domestic worker, immigration fines or detention.
  • Allow domestic workers to change employers without the consent of their current employer. This will protect domestic workers by enabling them to leave abusive employment relationships and prevent forced labour. In addition, it will create a healthier domestic work sector as employers will have to provide decent working and living conditions, understanding that their domestic workers will leave if these are not respected. For this to work, a system must be set up in which the visa can be transferred to a new employer without the current employers’ consent, and employers seeking to hire domestic workers can legally hire them directly, without relying on recruiting offices. Not allowing an employee to change employers essentially requires her to stay with an employer, which supports the prevalence of forced labour.
  • Make it mandatory for employers to provide health insurance when employing a domestic worker. All employers must provide valid health insurance for all domestic workers they are employing. Employers must provide domestic workers with health insurance from the beginning of their contract and this must be processed at the same time as the worker’s residence visa. No domestic worker should be allowed to work without proper health insurance. 
    • Include key provisions aligned with best practices for better working and living conditions. Domestic workers’ laws and contracts must contain clear information relevant to working conditions, including a minimum wage for all domestic workers, maximum working hours within 24 hours, minimum daily rest periods, a mandatory weekly day off,  allowance for the worker to leave the house when she is not on duty, overtime compensation, list of work duties including those that are not part of her duties (e.g. work for extended members of the sponsor’s family, take care of farm animals, massages, any tasks that can lead to an accident such as climbing tall ladders) and living conditions (e.g., all domestic workers must be provided with internet access, a private room and sufficient fresh food and drinks).
    • Provide a 90 day probation period where a domestic worker can return to her office within 90 days of commencing work if she wishes to change employers. The domestic worker should have the same right as the employer to a probation period and be allowed to return to the recruitment office, without having to state her reasons.
  • Make signatures from both the employer and worker compulsory for all domestic workers’ contracts to be enforceable. The process of signing must take place in front of an authorised official with both the employer and domestic worker present. During this process the relevant official must ensure that the domestic worker is signing the contract in a language that she understands, and that she verbally acknowledges that she understands the contract and the working conditions. The relevant authority must ensure the domestic workers’ understanding and sign the contract to verify this process.  A copy of this contract must be immediately provided to both parties.  
  • Make it mandatory for both employers and domestic workers to keep a daily record of working hours and a record of monthly salary payments to be signed by both parties. The working hours record should be available to both parties and must be presented in the event of any dispute, and during the labour visits (see Monitoring). The starting and finish time must be recorded with both signatures. The monthly payments must also be signed and include the total payment received. To avoid falsifying these records, the signature must be identical to the passport’s signature and if the hours or salary are different then what is being signed the domestic worker must have access to the grievance mechanism to raise this issue. 

Ensure protection for domestic workers against forced labour and other forms of labour exploitation by extending the Labour Law to include domestic work

The inclusion of domestic workers under the labour law will provide the basic protection needed, equal to all other workers, against forced labour and other forms of exploitation. It would address and limit the weekly maximum working hours, and minimum daily rest, paid annual leave, and wage. It would provide conditions that are not less favourable than those applicable to other workers. In addition, including domestic workers under the labour law would improve overall attitudes to and perceptions of domestic workers and their role in the country. 

However, there are still gaps within the labour law that prevent certain issues specifically affecting domestic workers from being addressed. Therefore, while we believe that a comprehensive domestic worker law would address more of the specific issues affecting domestic workers, domestic workers must still be considered workers and be covered by the labour law. Covering domestic workers by the labour law would be a positive step towards offering protection from exploitative working and living conditions to a sector that is currently excluded from such protections.

Strengthen the implementation of existing anti-human trafficking laws and protocols to address human trafficking

Oman has continuously striven to improve efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly through the passage of the anti-human trafficking law. However, we believe that there are measures that require further attention and strengthening to effectively prevent and address human trafficking. In particular, we recommend strengthening measures to prevent and respond to trafficking in accordance with the UN Trafficking Protocol (accessed in 2005) including measures to:

  • Effectively identify victims of human trafficking;
  • Provide accessible and immediate protection and support to potential victims of human trafficking;
  • Provide legal assistance, including temporary residency to victims of human trafficking, when needed, and;
  • Ensure that potential victims of human trafficking are not criminalised due to their immigration status or “absconding” charges.   

In addition to strengthening laws and regulations in accordance with the UN Trafficking Protocol, we also recommend the implementation and enforcement of the Anti-Trafficking Law to ensure that all victims are protected. We recommend that the relevant authorities:

  • Strengthen investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for human trafficking, including labour trafficking; 
  • Strengthen research into the root causes of human trafficking and labour exploitation of domestic workers in Oman in order to more effectively address the root problems.

Strengthen regulation and enforcement measures of recruitment offices to address recruitment-related abuses

Even though the initial recruitment of domestic workers happens in Sierra Leone, Oman has a responsibility to provide adequate protection for and prevent abuses of migrant workers in its territory by recruitment offices. To strengthen regulation of recruitment offices we recommend: 

    • Imposing strict regulations for recruitment offices to receive or extend their operating licences. To obtain or extend a license to operate as a recruiting office, it should be mandatory to have in place a human rights-focused due diligence system for their recruitment activities. This, for example, includes a human rights policy that protects domestic workers from any abuse. Along with this policy, the relevant steps for its implementation must also be documented. 
    • Introducing new regulations by which the recruitment offices must ensure that domestic workers have not paid recruitment fees in the origin country. Strict regulations must be in place whereby the recruitment office in Oman is responsible for working only with licensed and ethical recruitment agencies from sending countries. If recruitment agencies from sending countries are found charging recruitment fees, the recruitment office in Oman should be responsible for providing remedy for the workers by returning the fees paid and changing working partners. The recruitment office in Oman should be held accountable for facilitating human trafficking, forced labour or debt bondage if they knowingly fail to remedy the worker and/or change partners. To prevent recruitment fees in the origin country, recruiting offices in Oman must strictly vet recruitment agencies in the origin country to ensure that domestic workers working in Oman are recruited ethically. 
  • Requiring recruiting offices to ensure that domestic workers are not deceived concerning their working and living conditions, wages, or destination country. Recruiting offices in Oman must take the necessary steps to ensure that the working and living conditions that domestic workers are recruited for in Oman are the same as those being promised in their origin country. Otherwise, the recruiting office in Oman is responsible for providing a return flight ticket to the origin country. If the recruitment office is found to place the domestic worker with an employer even after deception is reported by the worker, the recruitment office must be held accountable as this practice promotes human trafficking and forced labour. To prevent deception in the origin country, recruiting offices in Oman must strictly vet recruitment agencies in the origin country to ensure that domestic workers working in Oman are recruited ethically. 
  • Ensuring that recruitment offices are covering the cost to repatriate workers who fail the government medical tests. As it is required by Ministerial Order No. 189 of 2004 and the domestic work contract recruitment offices are responsible for the return flight ticket of domestic workers who have failed the medical test. It must also be ensured that the flight ticket fees are not demanded from workers or their families. Accountability must be upheld if the recruitment office is found to be doing so.
  • Introducing regulations around the recruitment fees charged to employers to employ domestic workers. Fees paid by employers to recruitment offices must be regulated. These regulations should support a healthy business sector and fees must be transparent for those who seek those services. 
  • Considering a grading scheme for recruitment offices to encourage better practices. A grading scheme can be based on the number of complaints received from both workers and employers against recruitment offices. If this information is available to the public it may incentivise better practices. (Must be implemented in tandem with creating a grievance mechanism, see Recommendation 2.1.)

 

Ensure clear regulations are in place that prohibit employers from confiscating or withholding any personal documents to address the widespread practice of confiscating domestic workers’ passports

It has been observed that different reports and articles mention a circular that prohibits the confiscation and withholding of workers’ passports, including those of domestic workers.  However, this circular is not publicly available and thus it is not clear whether it is actually prohibited. Nevertheless, it is important to monitor and enforce the prohibition of confiscating and withholding workers’ passports as it is a common practice. We recommend:

  • Prohibiting and criminalising the confiscation and withholding of a domestic worker’s documents. A regulation must be in place to prohibit the confiscation and/or withholding of domestic workers. This regulation should also state the penalties when and if an employer or recruitment office is found to have confiscated and/or is withholding a domestic worker’s documents. This regulation must be monitored and strictly enforced.

It is important to make sure that this prohibition is clear and communicated to recruitment offices and society through awareness raising campaigns. In addition, continuous monitoring must be in place, holding accountable those responsible for confiscating domestic workers’ passports and contributing (knowingly or otherwise) to human trafficking and forced labour. 

Criminalise all forms of violence in the workplace, including the domestic work sector, to address all forms of violence and harassment

In Oman there are no laws that specifically protect domestic workers from workplace violence or harassment. We recommend:

  • Developing legislation to criminalise all forms of workplace violence and harassment that include the domestic work sector and that applies to both recruiting offices and homes, the place of employment.

Recommendations for Implementation and Enforcement

These recommendations aim for the effective implementation and enforcement of mechanisms to protect, remedy, and provide access to justice for victims of human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

Create a comprehensive and accessible grievance mechanism for domestic workers in order to address, and protect victims of, human trafficking and forced labour

To prevent all forms of exploitation, it is imperative to have an accessible and effective grievance mechanism. This grievance mechanism should protect all domestic workers regardless of nationality, residence status, or “absconding” charges. The grievance mechanism, to be effective, must be:

    • Safe. It must be ensured that domestic workers can raise a grievance without fear of discrimination or punishment, such as detention and deportation or retaliation directly from the employer. Ideally, the grievance mechanism should be staffed by women, preferably with a representative range of nationalities. 
    • Accessible. The grievance mechanisms must be accessible in practice, including for those that are in remote locations, those who cannot read or write, and those who cannot speak Arabic. This means there should be no complex administrative procedures and it must be accessible through different mediums. Also, proof of identity at this step must not be required as those most vulnerable will not have their passport with them. Creating a ‘women’s desk’ staffed by women in key police stations and at the Ministry of Labour  under the grievance mechanism umbrella, would allow more accessibility and trust in the system to bring complaints forward. The grievance mechanism should also be available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, including holidays.
    • Transparent. All steps that follow the submission of a grievance must be clearly set out in a way that is easily accessible and understandable for everyone accessing it to understand the process. This helps to create trust, and the domestic worker will know what to expect and when.
    • Responsive. All grievances should be responded to immediately and without delay. All grievances and questions should be addressed, investigated and answered promptly.
    • Independent. The entity responsible for receiving complaints must be independent of the police and immigration departments. On the other hand, if the police or any other entity receives a complaint from a domestic worker, it should be referred to the grievance mechanism. At this point, the domestic worker should not be detained or returned to her employer.
    • Fair. Investigations and remedies must be fair and lead to outcomes that are consistent with the best international standards. All investigations must be impartial.
    • Socially inclusive. The grievance mechanism must be accessible to all domestic workers regardless of migration or employment status. It should also consider supporting referrals for legal support and emergency shelters for domestic workers who are at risk (see Improve access to Shelter).

Improve access to justice for domestic workers, victims of exploitation and abuse to uphold the rule of law

Access to justice is a key element for the protection and prevention of human trafficking, forced labour and other forms of exploitation and abuse. To improve access to justice we recommend:

  • Removing all barriers that prevent access to justice such as “absconding” charges
  • Having a working grievance mechanism that facilitates access to justice
  • Providing legal representation to all domestic workers seeking justice, free of charge
  • Strengthening the efficiency of the justice system so the time that cases take does not deter anyone from filing charges
  • Ensuring that the domestic worker is allowed to work during the process, or providing shelter and food, whichever the worker prefers 
  • Ensuring that an enforcement process is in place to ensure compliance with the court’s decisions with no time delays
  • Allowing workers to transfer power of attorney to their legal representative in order to give them the option to leave the country while the case is in process. 

Establish and enforce effective accountability mechanisms for human trafficking, forced labour and other forms of exploitation

Accountability helps to ensure that no one is above the law, deterring practices that constitute elements of forced labour or other forms of exploitation. We recommend firmly holding recruiting offices, employers and any other entity that facilitates human trafficking or any other form of exploitation or abuse accountable, in particular:

Recruiting offices must be held accountable if and when they: 

  • Do not implement national regulations
  • Recruit domestic workers who were charged recruiting fees or deceived in the origin country
  • Lock inside a room, and/or do not provide proper room and board to domestic workers under their responsibility
  • Place domestic workers at different homes for temporary work with or without payment 
  • Threaten domestic workers in any way or form
  • Commit any kind of abuse against the domestic worker.

Employers must be held accountable when and if they: 

  • Do not pay in full and/or on time the domestic worker’s salary
  • Do not provide an employment contract or provide a copy of the employment contract to the worker
  • Do not comply with regulations regarding working conditions
  • Do not comply with regulations regarding living conditions
  • Do not provide flight tickets in a timely manner for the worker to return home upon the termination of the employment contract.

Any person or entity must be held accountable when and if they: 

  • Withholds workers’ personal documents. All domestic workers should have their documents with them, regardless of immigration or employment status. Ensure retrieval of confiscated passports from employers or recruiting offices and return them to workers 
  • Requests, receives or facilitates the payment of “release money”
  • Uses threats for the purpose of exploitation
  • Is a perpetrator of any other kind of abuse, harassment or violence.

Build a monitoring system and team, to monitor and enforce regulations related to recruitment and working and living conditions

To ensure effective implementation and enforcement of all laws protecting domestic workers, a domestic worker monitoring system and team should be created. These should:

  • Monitor recruiting offices to identify, prevent, and address exploitative and abusive practices by recruitment offices by:
    • Ensuring that all regulatory frameworks are being implemented 
    • Making non-scheduled visits, speaking to workers housed by recruitment offices, and auditing all relevant documentation, including the office’s human rights policy and its implementation system
    • Documenting the number of workers that are being returned to recruitment offices to ensure that offices are effectively preventing and addressing human trafficking and other forms of exploitation and;
    • Documenting the number of complaints lodged against recruitment offices and identifying “high-risk” recruitment offices for continuous monitoring.
  •  
  • Monitor households that employ domestic workers:
    To protect the privacy of employers, when monitoring households, permission to enter a household must be obtained and the employer can choose to have the visit inside the home or not. In case the visit is not done at the employer’s home, the monitoring must still take place. The monitoring team should monitor working conditions by:
    • Carrying out confidential interviews with domestic workers and employers, documenting all issues and proactively referring any issues to the relevant authorities
    • Ensuring that the domestic workers documents have not been/were not confiscated 
    • Ensuring that the domestic workers’ employment contracts are in place, that they are working with valid contracts and that domestic workers have a copy of the contract
    • During these visits, the employer must present all the documents required by law, such as the signed employment contract, payslips signed by the worker, etc
    • Making regular phone/voice calls to domestic workers to check on their working conditions could also support the monitoring activities. Ideally, these calls should be done by women, ideally of the same nationality as the worker.
  • Monitor living conditions:
    • If a monitoring team can enter a household, monitoring should include the domestic worker’s sleeping arrangements, including the bathroom. These arrangements should be in line with the relevant requirements
    • If a monitoring team is not allowed to enter a household, the domestic worker and employer must provide a picture or video of the domestic worker’s sleeping arrangements. 

For the monitoring team to be effective, it must:

  • Be implemented together with an effective grievance mechanism;
  • Be ensured that the monitoring team is skilled and prepared to identify situations of human trafficking, forced labour and other forms of abuse;
  • Refer cases of potential human trafficking, forced labour and exploitation to the relevant entity, with findings, to open an investigation;
  • Refer cases of non-compliance to the relevant authorities for follow up. Cases with non-compliance must continue to be monitored to ensure enforcement or accountability;
  • Keep and record all findings;
  • Collect data regularly on the number and type of issues and number of monitoring visits;
  • Have mainly women monitoring and conducting the interviews with the domestic workers, ideally in the worker’s mother tongue. 

Develop a remediation process to address human trafficking

A remediation process is essential to help address violations that have taken place against domestic workers and provide opportunities for the government to address issues arising from their root causes. Oman, as a signatory to the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (the Palermo Protocol), should ensure remedy. According to the ‘Draft basic principles on the right to an effective remedy for victims of trafficking in persons’ remedies should include:

 

  • Restitution. To restore the victim to their original situation before trafficking or exploitation occurred as best as possible. For those trafficked to Oman, this should include safe and voluntary repatriation support and addressing root causes of trafficking to ensure that upon victims return to the pre-existing situation will not put her at risk of being trafficked
  • Rehabilitation and recovery. This should include medical and psychological care, as well as providing an accessible shelter and access to medical services. It should also include information about their legal rights. This support should consider a non-conditional recovery period.
  • Compensation. Financial support can help a victim to rebuild their life. This includes, for example, access to compensation from the State for injuries and damages and to remain in the country legally during proceedings. 

 

Improve access to the existing shelter, or create a shelter specifically for domestic workers, for victims of human trafficking and/or other forms of abuse to ensure protection and prevent re-exploitation

A safe and secure shelter for domestic workers, victims of human trafficking and/or other forms of exploitation or abuse, will provide vital assistance for the initial recovery and support needed to begin the process of healing and recovering. We recommend for the existing shelter to implement the following changes or to create a shelter specifically for domestic workers and that considers the following:

 

  • Create a safe, secure, and accessible shelter for all domestic workers victims of any form of exploitation or abuse; 
  • Information on how to access shelter services and transparency of its services and processes must be available in different forms and media. This information should include functioning mechanisms for referrals to the shelter;
  • Ensuring there are no provisions that prevent potential victims from accessing the shelter, including provisions that stipulate that only those that file charges against perpetrators are allowed to stay long term;  
  • Considering allowing embassies to operate formal shelters to offer support to their nationals;
  • Integrating shelter referrals into the grievance mechanisms.

Increase awareness of issues affecting domestic workers to better implement all regulations and prevent and address all forms of human trafficking, forced labour and other forms of exploitation

Awareness is a key element for any policy, regulation or desired practice to be implemented effectively. For all recommendations shared here to be effective, an awareness campaign must also be implemented. As a minimum, we recommend: 

Developing a campaign to improve the treatment of domestic workers by employers. The campaign should: 

  • Be based on a human rights-based approach where the campaign focuses on the prohibition, prevention and elimination of all forms of discrimination prioritising domestic workers, the community most vulnerable and affected to human trafficking
  • Include information on: 
    • The rights of domestic workers as an active working group within a working sector;
    • The responsibilities of domestic workers – including those tasks that are not to be assigned to a domestic worker;
    • Responsibilities of employers toward domestic workers;
    • The appropriate professional relationship that should be held between a domestic worker and an employer; 
    • Monitoring efforts to address forced labour and other forms of exploitation;
    • Consequences for any form of neglect of the laws or contract. 

Increase awareness about fair and ethical recruitment practices. Awareness can be increased through a campaign that includes:  

  • Information on the consequences of a domestic worker being deceived; 
  • Information on the issues affecting domestic workers when they have paid recruitment fees;
  • Information directed to employers on how to respond if they have recruited a domestic worker who was deceived or charged recruitment fees.

Increase awareness of the prohibition of withholding domestic workers’ documents. This campaign should inform workers, recruitment offices and employers of the strict prohibition of this practice. It should also include information on consequences, accountability, and how to access the grievance mechanism to report such cases.  

Increase awareness of the available grievance mechanism for domestic workers by:

  • Ensuring that all arriving domestic workers receive information about their rights and the grievance mechanism. This can include a mandatory briefing with all arriving domestic workers in the airport, without the presence of recruitment office staff or employers. In these briefings an illustrated and digital guide accessible to those that cannot read should be provided to domestic workers with the relevant information;
  • Creating a public education campaign to raise awareness on how to access the grievance mechanism ensuring that the campaign reaches domestic workers in a format and language that they can access and understand; 
  • Requiring recruitment offices to display information (both written and illustrated) about the grievance mechanisms available in multiple languages.

Increase awareness of contract importance. Develop an awareness campaign focusing on the importance of employment contracts to ensure that all employers provide a working contract to domestic workers and that domestic workers know they should keep a copy. 

Increase awareness of available shelters for domestic workers. Raise awareness of the existing shelter among domestic workers. Special attention should be put on how workers can get more information about the shelter and how to access it. Ensure in the awareness-raising process to state that staying in the shelter is voluntary, that the shelter is accessible regardless of charges (e.g. “absconding”) or immigration status, which could cause fear and discourage women from seeking support. 

See Recommendations 16 - 21 for Sierra Leone
Recommendations for Oman & Sierra Leone

Collaboration by both countries is vital for the effective prevention of human trafficking of Sierra Leoneans to Oman. This collaboration should, among other things, help to better regulate and monitor recruitment and protect the rights of domestic workers. 

It is our understanding that a bilateral agreement between both countries related to migrant workers is in process and that Oman has drafted an agreement that is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in Sierra Leone. This agreement should set the basic standards of cooperation to help better protect Sierra Leonean women domestic workers from human trafficking and forced labour. 

Creating an effective and transparent collaborative relationship to protect domestic workers.
This should include:

  • A bilateral agreement, such as the one in process, that specifically protects domestic workers from Sierra Leone in Oman. The level of protection should not be relevant to the power of the origin or destination country. This agreement, if possible, should include collaboration with transit countries such as Guinea and Senegal;
  • Development of a mutually acceptable recruitment and monitoring system designed to prevent and address human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. This system should ensure that the recruitment of domestic workers from Sierra Leone to Oman is processed only through fair and ethical recruitment agencies that are duly licenced and monitored by their respective countries;
  • Development of an automatic, or without delay, reporting process to the Embassy of Sierra Leone in Saudi Arabia of arrests of Sierra Leonean nationals by the Oman Ministry of Labour and Royal Oman Police. This will expedite repatriations and deportations; 
  • Presence of a labour attaché or a representative of the Sierra Leonean Government in Oman.

Make priority to address the current situation of Sierra Leoneans domestic workers in Oman who want to return home but are unable to. 

There is an extremely high number of Sierra Leoneans in Oman who are victims of human trafficking and/or exploitation and who want to return home but are unable to. The main reason for not being able to return is the presence of “absconding” charges and/or because their employers are asking for “release money” to be allowed to return home. (Note: There are many others who wish to stay in Oman and work under better conditions or in another sector. To address the needs of these workers, see Recommendation 3.) To address this situation we recommend:

  • For those who have left their employers: 
    • For Oman to put in place an amnesty to allow all Sierra Leoneans to return to their country of origin regardless of “absconding” charges, visas status or immigration fines;
  • For those who are still with their employers: 
    • For Oman to conduct a human trafficking and/or forced labour screening, following a similar approach used for this report, with all Sierra Leonean domestic workers in the countryand offer repatriation support to any victims who wish to return;
  • For Oman and Sierra Leone to reach an agreement by which Oman can provide exit passes to all Sierra Leoneans to exit Oman without having to negotiate with the employer for the return of their passport nor having to request an Emergency Travel Certificate from the Sierra Leone Embassy in Riyadh; 
  • For Oman and Sierra Leone to engage with relevant stakeholders (including the potential of working with international organisations) that can support the safe and voluntary repatriation of these women, including the coverage of flight tickets and other travel expenses;
  • For Sierra Leone to waive all health declaration fees for Sierra Leoneans returning from Oman under this amnesty or those receiving repatriation support. 

In addition to these recommendations, we would also highly recommend for Oman to investigate the reasons for which Sierra Leoneans domestic workers have left their employer, identify victims of trafficking and/or exploitation, and recuperate wages on behalf of these women – as long as it does not significantly delay the repatriation of the women. We would also highly recommend for Sierra Leone to open investigations to identify the recruiters of these victims of human trafficking and prosecute and convict accordingly. We also recommend they provide reintegration support to this group of women.   

5. SUPPORT

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS SIERRA LEONE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION
Read about domestic workers in Oman, legal framework, the COVID-19 pandemic and background information on the project.

4. FINDINGS
Read about our findings where we identified gaps in government policy as well as widespread practices that allow issues to exist and thrive.

6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS SIERRA LEONE
6 recommendations to strengthen implementation and enforcement to combat human trafficking.

2. METHODOLOGY
Information on the project framework and source of data and documented knowledge.

5. SUPPORT

Our efforts supporting victims of human trafficking and forced labour.

7. CONCLUSION
Our findings identify a significant and largely overlooked issue that requires an immediate response.

3. STORIES THAT MATTER
Read three stories to remind us how issues are interlinked and woven into each other.

6.1 RECOMMENDATIONS OMAN

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project would not have been possible without the support, partnerships and collaboration with others.

FULL REPORT
Download the report in PDF (5.8MB)