The Ugandan government has secured an agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to pardon Ugandan migrant workers currently detained in deportation centers and prisons.
This was revealed by Esther Anyakun Davina, the Minister of State for Labour, Employment, and Industrial Relations, during a press briefing on October 21, 2024.
The minister, who led a government delegation to Riyadh between October 14 and 17, 2024, explained that the visit aimed to discuss the welfare and working conditions of over 150,000 Ugandan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Uganda and Saudi Arabia signed a bilateral agreement in 2023, placing responsibility on the host country to safeguard the rights of Ugandan workers.
“Many Ugandans have been languishing in prison centers across Saudi Arabia, and central to the discussions was Uganda’s request for clemency for its citizens, including women with children born in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and those detained for various offenses,” said Anyakun.
She added that the agreement excludes Ugandans serving sentences for capital offenses, such as drug trafficking and murder.
The bilateral talks also reviewed the significant economic contributions of Ugandan migrant workers, who send approximately $900 million annually back home. Saudi Arabia is Uganda’s top labor externalization destination in the Middle East, making this agreement a critical step towards ensuring the safety and well-being of Ugandans abroad.
“In a gesture of goodwill, the Saudi government further pledged to expedite their repatriation back to Uganda and support in their reintegration. This unprecedented move is expected to bring relief to numerous Ugandan families, many of whom have been living in uncertainty regarding the fate of their loved ones who travelled to Saudi Arabia with a hope of making a livelihood and supporting their families back in Uganda,” Anyakun noted.
The Ugandan delegation’s success in securing this pardon is a testament to the growing cooperation between the two nations in managing labour migration. The government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development as the regulator continues to pay keen attention to the issue of enhancing the protection of its migrant workers abroad and ensuring that labour migration is safe, secure, orderly and regular and, particularly in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia as the key destination for labour migration in Uganda.
In addition, the Ugandan delegation which comprised of the Ambassador of Uganda to Saudi Arabia, Uganda’s labour attaché to Saudi Arabia and other technical officers from the Ministry focused their discussions on addressing the key challenges affecting Ugandan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, strengthening bilateral relations and documenting distressed cases in order to enhance their repatriation to Uganda.
With this development, Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development reaffirms its commitment to improving the standards of labour externalization through strategic bilateral partnerships.
