“I started having stomach pain; my intestines and stomach shrank. My employer denied me medical attention . . . instead, he yelled, ‘You came here to work, you did not come here to be sick,’ and poured scalding hot water on me. . . . I left Saudi Arabia with second-degree burns.”
This is an account by Feith Murunga, a Kenyan domestic-worker survivor of human trafficking, who relayed her experience to the University of San Francisco’s International Human Rights Clinic in March of 2026.
It is estimated that 150,000 to 200,000 Kenyan domestic workers live in Saudi Arabia, many experiencing abuse, exploitation and discrimination, including the deaths of more than 274 Kenyans in the last five years, at least 55 in a single year, double the year before. Saudi officials routinely report these deaths as “natural,” attributing them to cardiac arrest or suicide, despite clear signs of abuse.
Human trafficking for forced labor has been identified as the largest contributor to the African trafficking crisis, yet there is no meaningful path to remedies for survivors. Recently, on World Day for Health and Safety at Work, April 28, the University of San Francisco School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, with Global Justice Kenya, a nongovernmental organization, filed 15 complaints against Saudi Arabia to highlight violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or CRPD, caused by human trafficking.
Human trafficking of women from Kenya to Saudi Arabia becomes a disability concern when they sustain life-altering injuries from abuse and neglect. While Saudi Arabia has not signed onto human rights treaty bodies addressing torture or violence against women, it agreed in 2008 to accept individual complaints before the CRPD, opening the door for legal remedy.
Earlier this year, my colleagues and I combed through Global Justice Kenya’s database of 256 survivor stories and found a common theme: human trafficking can present a violation of disability rights. None of the women were disabled before they went to Saudi Arabia for work, yet many of them returned to Kenya with a disability.
Feith Murunga is one of the survivors whose claim will be adjudicated by the CRPD committee. In November 2019, Murunga went to Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker based on the promise of a good salary, accommodations and medical insurance. Instead, she endured beatings and sexual violence from her employer and was forced to work up to 24 hours and starved to the point of irreparable intestinal damage. She escaped her situation by running away from her employer. She now lives with a gastrointestinal disability and scarring on her arm.
Why seek a remedy before the UN? Remedies in Kenya and Saudi Arabia are inaccessible. For Kenyan survivors, domestic justice is buried in ineffective legislation that discourages the prevention and prosecution of human trafficking. The desperate employment situation has allowed corruption in domestic justice systems, with witnesses bribed to lie on the stand and some government officials invested in recruitment agencies.
Justice in Saudi Arabia is also elusive because the kafala system ties migrant domestic workers to their employer “sponsor,” meaning survivors need the consent of their abuser to file a claim. Even if they escape their employer, the guardianship system deems women without a male guardian in violation of the law, leading to arrest or deportation. Under these systems, migrants disabled by their work cannot seek medical attention or legal remedies.
Where domestic courts fail survivors, traditional international justice systems lack jurisdiction. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime addresses human trafficking, but it is limited to state-state claims, with zero cases against Kenya or Saudi Arabia focusing on the human trafficking of domestic workers.
These barriers to justice are precisely why the CRPD’s individual complaint mechanism matters. The 15 individual communications that have been filed ask the CRPD Committee to affirm what is undeniable: people with disabilities have the right to be free from abuse. The communications seek monetary compensation and systemic remedies for survivors who were trafficked from Kenya and returned with a mountain of medical bills and physical limitations from their newly acquired disabilities.
Even if the committee ultimately adopts views recommending that Saudi Arabia is obligated to provide an effective remedy, including monetary compensation, enforcement is not guaranteed. However, the CRPD may recommend systemic reforms, which, if combined with pressure from the international community, could bring survivors justice and prevent similar violations in the future. These reforms may include building accessible processes for survivors to file complaints against their employers and ensuring women with disabilities can make autonomous decisions about their care.
The CRPD faces a historic opportunity to engage the international community in a conversation about labor trafficking and accountability. Human trafficking for forced labor is the most prevalent form of trafficking globally. Yet in 2022, only 17 percent of global human trafficking convictions focused on forced labor, while 72 percent of convictions were about sexual exploitation. So, the most common form of human trafficking receives the least prosecutorial attention worldwide.
If the CRPD Committee issues recommendations supporting survivors of human trafficking like Feith Murunga, it will pave the way for true legislative reforms and access to the legal process for survivors. No one should be trafficked from their home, let alone forced to return with nothing but a disability.
This is an opinion essay.
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Meagan Kindrat is a third-year law student who participated in the University of San Francisco’s International Human Rights Clinic and traveled to Kenya in March 2026.
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Thank you for highlighting this important issue. Protecting the rights, dignity, and well-being of people who acquire disabilities through exploitation and abuse is essential. Greater awareness, accountability, and access to justice are needed to create a safer and more inclusive world.