Ethiopia began legally sending trained domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in August 2019, starting with a group of 75, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nebyat Getachew told journalists on Aug. 9.
An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, photographed on January 24, 2018. (A.Savin / Wikimedia Commons, Free Art License) [file photo]
Travel to Saudi Arabia for domestic work had been halted for more than four years over gaps in the protection and safety of workers, 2merkato reported, citing the Ethiopian News Agency. Nebyat said similar agreements had been signed with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan.
Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia signed the Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers in Jeddah on May 25, 2017, and Ethiopia's House of Peoples' Representatives ratified it on June 28, 2018, according to Ratification Proclamation No. 1092/2018 published by the Ministry of Justice.
In February 2019, Saudi Labor Minister Ahmed Al-Rajhi said the two countries had agreed on a monthly salary of 1,000 riyals and recruitment costs of 4,000 to 7,000 riyals, Saudi Gazette reported, citing Al-Madina. Recruitment had been on hold after Ethiopian authorities sought 1,200 riyals a month instead of the 850 riyals the Saudi ministry proposed, the paper said.
Hussain Al-Mutairi, head of the recruitment committee at the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said no housemaid would be brought to the kingdom without 30 days of training, a police verification certificate and a medical fitness certificate, according to Saudi Gazette. Recruitment was to run through licensed offices in Ethiopia using the Saudi Musaned platform.
At the same Aug. 9 briefing, Nebyat said the ministry had repatriated 280 prisoners and 273 citizens without residence permits from Saudi Arabia, as well as 64 people from Kenyan prisons, according to 2merkato.
Sources: Ethiopian News Agency, 2merkato, Ministry of Justice: Proclamation No. 1092/2018, Saudi Gazette (February 2019)