Ghanaian Female Migrants Under Sexual Exploitation In Jordan

Some Ghanaian female migrants allegedly suffering maltreatment and sexual exploitation in Jordan are calling on the Ghanaian government to assist them return home.

The women, who claim to have been promised ‘destiny-changing’ salaries and better condition of service, say they have rather been subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of dehumanizing treatment by their employers.

They travelled to the Middle East country with the hope of improving their lives but things rather turned to be worst.

According to the distraught women, they were deceived by recruitment agencies with promises of juicy employment offers. They later realized that it was all sham.

“I was promised free quarterly medical check-up, decent accommodation, monthly airtime to call my family members but none of the promise has been fulfilled. My employer pays me only when she feels the need to do so but I work every day for 10 hours and more nonstop”, one of the migrants narrated her ordeal to a journalist.

Another migrant said she was contemplating committing suicide due to the harsh treatment meted out on her by her employer and the police in Jordan.

“Those of us who have decided to abrogate our contracts due to unfair treatments are now being chased by the police like armed robbers. Most of our colleagues have been put behind bars and suffering inhuman treatments after they surrendered to the police. We feel unsafe here especially with the absence of Ghana Embassy. We plead with the government to assist us go back home,” she cried out.

The Government of Ghana in March 2016 set up an inter-ministerial taskforce to crackdown on illegal recruitment agencies which export young Ghanaian ladies to Middle East countries as house helps only to be maltreated and sometimes killed.

The government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Jordan with protective clauses that Ghanaians whose services are exported are treated with dignity.

But the physical and emotional abuse meted out to Ghanaian migrants still persists in Jordan.

The International Organization for Migration recently raised concern about the increasing reports of Ghanaian female migrants being abused in the Middle East.

The organization wants to the government to address the problem immediately before it gets out of hand.