Ethiopian Labour Migration to the Gulf and South Africa

Kefale, Asnake; Mohammed, Zerihun

doi:10.2307/j.ctvh8r1f8

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…While migration overseas was banned until the 1980s, it rose rapidly after the 1990s (Kefale and Mohammed 2016), when the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued the Private Employment Agency Proclamation to manage employment overseas (Fernandez 2017), and following the removal of the requirements for exit visas for Ethiopians in 2004 (Kefale and Mohammed 2016). Ethiopia was one of several countries (along with Nepal) from where migrant labour was sought by the Gulf states.…”

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ethiopia was one of several countries (along with Nepal) from where migrant labour was sought by the Gulf states. Yet while labour agreements with Nepal were primarily for unskilled male manual labour, for Ethiopia, the focus was on meeting the demand for female domestic workersparticularly during the 2000s when welfare concerns spurred some Asian countries to restrict female domestic worker migration to the region (Kefale and Mohammed 2016). The number of permits for female domestic work in Saudi Arabia for example, the largest destination for Ethiopian labour migrants, rose from just 2478 in July 2009 to 160,000 by 2012 (Fernandez 2017).…”

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The number of permits for female domestic work in Saudi Arabia for example, the largest destination for Ethiopian labour migrants, rose from just 2478 in July 2009 to 160,000 by 2012 (Fernandez 2017). Unlike in Nepal there are far fewer bilateral labour treaties to sustain legal migration channels, and the supply and demand for work far exceeds the number of permits issued (Kefale and Mohammed 2016). As a result, the government estimates that 60-70% of the estimated 300,000-350,000 Ethiopians in the Gulf states are irregular migrants without legal papers (Fernandez 2017).…”

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Migration, environmental change and agrarian transition in upland regions: learning from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal

Sugden

Nigussie

Debevec

et al. 2021

The Journal of Peasant Studies

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This paper analyses the relationship between cyclical labour migration and agrarian transition in the uplands of Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya. It shows that while migration decision-making is linked to expanding capitalist markets, it is mediated by local cultural, political and ecological changes. In turn, cyclical migration goes on to shape the trajectory of change within agriculture. The dual dependence on both migrant income and agriculture within these upland communities often translates into an intensifying work burden on the land, and rising profits for capitalism. However, on some occasions this income can support increased productivity and accumulation within agriculturealthough this depends on both the agro-ecological context and the local agrarian structure.

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Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Migration, environmental change and agrarian transition in upland regions: learning from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal

Sugden

Nigussie

Debevec

et al. 2021

The Journal of Peasant Studies

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“…There is a significant amount of literature that assesses the flows of people following this type of migration, as well as the questions arising from it [26][27][28]. The flows of migration of this type tend to be higher skill, but are not necessarily from the Global South to the Global North, as they may also include South-South migration patterns; however, the literature has focused more on the former (for alternatives, see: [29]. In these conceptualizations, education is a positive driver [30].…”

Section: Context: Education-migration Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education—Migration Nexus: Understanding Youth Migration in Southern Ethiopia

Semela

Cochrane

2019

Education Sciences

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The purpose of this study is to unravel the education–migration nexus in the African context, specifically Ethiopia. It examines why young people terminate their education to migrate out of the country. The study applies de Haas’ aspiration—capability framework and Turner’s macro, meso and micro sociology as its analytical lenses. It offers unique insight into the terrain of youth migration in southern Ethiopia based on empirical data obtained from two rural sub-districts known for high levels of youth out-migration. Data are generated based on interviews with would-be migrant youth, parents, teachers and school principals. The findings reveal that education has both direct and indirect impacts on youth migration. On the other hand, the results indicate that though terminating school could have negative ramifications on human capital accumulation at micro and macro levels, migration can positively impact households and local communities through investments made by individual migrants, migrant-returnees, and remittance-receiving households in small businesses or community development projects, which included better resourced schools.

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“…Of this figure 94 percent or 297,512 were female domestic workers. (Kefale and Zerihun 2015). The number of women migrating using clandestine routes is estimated to be double that figure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethiopian female domestic workers in the Middle East and Gulf States: an introduction

Demissie

2017

African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal

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In a video shot outside by an anonymous bystander very close to the Ethiopian Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon on February 2012, a 33-year-old Ethiopian female domestic worker was savagely beaten and violently dragged by Ali Mahfouz who is the brother of a labor recruiter into the back seat of a black BMW, while a chorus of men silently watched the unfolding event and no one came to help her or stop the beating and dragging. 1 This videotaped incident was later aired by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBIC) on 8 March 2012, and the video went viral. The same report records that, after the incident, police arrived at the scene and took Alem to a detention center 'without arresting any of her tormentors'. Alem was transferred to Deir al Saleeb Psychiatric Hospital for medical care where she committed suicide by hanging herself using her bed sheets, early in the morning on March 14, 2012 (Beydoun Ali 2006; Human Rights Watch 2012). Five years later in a horrifying video of an Ethiopian domestic worker falling from what media reports indicated was the seventh floor of an apartment building in Dubai, Kuwait went viral instantly. The video appears to have been filmed by the worker's employer inside the apartment with the domestic worker dangling outside the window. Rather than assist her from falling, the employer was videotaping the incident from inside while the panicked worker calls out for her to grab her. But within 12 seconds of the video recording starting, the dangling woman lost her grip and fell from the seventh floor. Considered a miracle by many in the Ethiopian domestic workers community in Dubai, the domestic worker only suffered a broken hand, bleeding nose and ear according to the Kuwait Times (2012). The authorities arrested the employer and charged her for failing to assist her worker. These two incidents separated by geographyin Lebanon and Dubai and time are part of a wide culture of systematic abuse perpetuated by families and individual employers who have hired Ethiopian female domestic workers in the Middle East and Gulf States in the last two decades. Numerous other cases documented by international media and local agencies as well as the Human Rights group have reported widespread violence, rape, beating, starvation, and slavery-like practices, excessive domestic work, debt bondage, sexual slavery, and servitude of Ethiopian female domestic workers in the region. In the last two decades, the migration (both legal and clandestine) of Ethiopian female domestic workers to globalizing cities of the Middle East and Gulf States particularly, to Dubai, Beirut, Riyadh, Aman, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sana'a, and Cairo has increased dramatically because of the dynamics of globalization and neoliberal economic policies which ushered in increased free trade, deregulation,

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Ethiopian Labour Migration to the Gulf and South Africa

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

Migration, environmental change and agrarian transition in upland regions: learning from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal

Migration, environmental change and agrarian transition in upland regions: learning from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal

Education—Migration Nexus: Understanding Youth Migration in Southern Ethiopia

Ethiopian female domestic workers in the Middle East and Gulf States: an introduction

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