Muhammad Riaz reports on the deportation and detaining of African migrants in Saudi Arabia that are currently suffering in hellish detention centers.
Saudi Arabia detains hundreds of African migrants in detention centers – The Myriad
By Muhammad Riaz
Saudi Arabia’s has a long history of mistreating foreign workers
Saudi Arabia or KSA is the 15th richest country in the world and heavily relies on foreign workers and expatriates for labor that many domestic workers won’t do. Of the 32 million people in Saudi, expatriates make up around 30 percent of the population with nearly 11 million foreign people living in Saudi. Many of these people are coming from the Indian Subcontinent, other Arab countries, the Horn of Africa and many other regions in hopes of finding new opportunities for a better life. KSA unfortunately has a grueling history of mistreating foreign workers – abusing and exploiting them. The Human Rights Watch even noted that in some cases, employers are treating foreign workers like slaves.
Detention centers began months ago due to coronavirus concerns
Towards the beginning of April 2020 when the coronavirus started to get much worse in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi security services started to round up African migrants and place them into centers for deportation. This situation arises as Saudi officials thought that the African migrants living among them would act as vectors for the virus since they typically live in overcrowded houses. They then started to round up the African migrants and place them in deportation centers, saying they would send them back to their home countries shortly.
After the first 10 days of April, Saudi security services deported nearly 3000 African migrants. Reuters claims to have seen a leaked UN memo in which they discuss that Saudi expects to deport 200,000 in total. After 5 months, most of these migrants are still in these centers “left to die” according to one of the deportees who reached out to the Sunday Telegraph.
According to the Middle East Monitor, they are transporting these African migrants on small and crowded police busses with only as many supplies and belongings as the detainees can carry. During transportation, officials have little regard for the safety and dignity of the migrants. According to Reuters, transportations services are squeezing up to 500 migrants on a single flight. When sent back to their countries, they turn most of them away and return them to Saudi as places like Ethiopia don’t have proper quarantine centers for them and since many are citizens of Saudi Arabia.
The Telegraph has geo-located the detention centers from the information they received through detainees who reached out to them via cell phone. One center is the Al-Shumaisi Public Services Complex, which is near the holy city of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia. Another one of these centers is in or around the port city of Jazan which is near the border of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Detainees reveal the horrendous conditions they faced
Though this situation started in April, just recently did the public become aware of the inhumane conditions at these detention centers. The Sunday Telegraph spoke with some of the Africans held in the detention centers. They have sent pictures, videos and descriptions of the center via cell phone to the British news company. The company then wrote on it, geo-located the detention centers and tried to raise awareness about it.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, some of the African migrants in these centers have described it as hellish and inhumane. They “have been left to die,” only receiving “a tiny piece of bread in the morning and rice in the evening” with toilets that are overflowing waste into the area in which they sleep. The pictures show many people crammed into a small, classroom-like building, sewage on the floor and even a deceased person wrapped in some cloth in the middle of the room. Other pictures show bruises and wounds on the detainees from guards abusing them and they even mentioned that if someone dies “the guards just throw the bodies out back as if it was trash.”
Almost all of them are sick with either Covid-19 or another disease with no way to tell, according to one of the detainees who reached out. Many are suicidal and a 16-year old gentleman managed to unfortunately take his own life by hanging himself. They are in places with no cooling systems and many are suffering heat strokes and other illnesses because of the sweltering desert heat.
The conditions in these detainment centers are inhumane and degrading. While these detainees are suffering and dying, the guards laugh at and mock them. Though there might not be full details and investigations, it is important to recognize the issue taking place and raise awareness on the subject.