*Trigger warning: Story mentions sexual violence.

As reported by Al Jazeera, women from Nigeria and other African countries are being duped by local “agents” who promise well-paying domestic jobs and favorable working conditions abroad. These agents arrange visas and send the women to Iraqi recruitment firms, earning commissions of about $500 per woman. Upon arrival, the women are required to sign two-year contracts and are assigned to work at grueling jobs, often 20-hour per day for meager monthly wages of $200 to $250. Many endure inhumane conditions, including lack of food, physical abuse, and inadequate living accommodations. Some, like Agnes*, also face sexual violence, with reports of extreme abuse leading to deaths.

“please help me get out of here”

Agnes’ nightmare began at the first home where she worked. Her Iraqi boss took away her phone and demanded that she work all day without regular meals. When she refused, he sent her back to the recruitment agency and demanded a refund. Her two employers, furious over the financial loss she caused, beat her so badly that she had to wear a bandage over her eye for three days.

After enduring the physical assault from her employers, Agnes was sent to a second home. There, her boss raped her at gunpoint, resulting in pregnancy. He then forced her to undergo a painful abortion, leaving her with severe abdominal pain and unable to work. To compound her suffering, he refused to pay her six months of wages, leaving her penniless and unable to seek medical care.

She said on a phone call with Al Jazeera:

“If I knew what this country is like, I wouldn’t have come here. If I knew it’s not safe and there is no respect for life, I wouldn’t have come. I just thought I could also come here and hustle. Please help me get out of here,”

Another Nigerian woman, Eniola, says her boss forced her to work on only three to four hours of sleep. If she complained, she was tazed, hit with an iron rod, or burned with hot tea or water. It would be more than a year before Eniola found the courage to escape. Videos shared with Al Jazeera showed her with broken fingers, burn scars and other wounds on her body.

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