by Reta Raymond
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda – Earlier this year, with the help of  the U.S. Army in Iraq, eleven Ugandan women escaped from domestic slavery and were repatriated by the International Organization for Migration. These women are now suing the firm that sold them, Uganda Veteran’s Development Limited (UVDL), the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecution, and the Inspector General of Police for failure to protect and failure to prosecute. One of the women plaintiffs, identified only as “W,” called and “informed [Inspector General of Police, Kale Kaihura] about our situation of slavery in Iraq and he promised to rescue us but did nothing to that effect.”

In 2008, UVDL promised these women jobs as secretaries, nurses, supermarket clerks to earn as much as $700 per month including allowances. But the women had to pay approximately $1000 for a visa, application,airplane ticket and medical examination. Women were flown to Baghdad in groups of a dozen, and delivered to Abu Sami, who took their passports and sold them as servants for $3500. Abu Sami “yelled at us that we were his slaves he had purchased us with his money and we would have to work as housemaids for the people who were waiting for us in his office,” states Y in her affidavit.

Y was forced to clean a Sheik’s mansion from 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. After six days, Y refused to work and the Sheik held her at gunpoint and “threatened to throw me in a well of petrol.” Y was returned to Abu Sami, who kept her in a dark room with others until she could be resold. “Abu Sami said I would stay in the room locked up for the period of my contract of 2 years without food,” stated Y.

Z was beaten, raped six times, and given a venereal disease by the man who bought her. She was hospitalized four times for stress and a heart attack. “I could not escape because the family had my passport and I had spent my little salary on hospital bills, telephone calls …  in spite of my sickness I continued to work,” stated Z.

In July of 2009 eight Ugandan women sold by UVDL were rescued by U.S. Marines in Iraq. One of the women, Rachel Malagala testified before Parliament that she “was held in a dark room with three other women some of whom complained that their Iraqi masters sexually harassed them.” Shortly thereafter, the Ministry of Labour revoked  UVDL’s license to export labor, but they were relicensed in December 2010.

For more information, please see:

The Observer – Ugandan Iraq ‘slaves’ sue state – 8 June, 2011

BBC – Ugandan women tricked into domestic slavery in Iraq – 31 March, 2011

All Africa – Uganda: U.S. Marines Rescue Eight Ugandan Slaves in Iraq – 11 July, 2009