₦airaland Forum

Traffickers reportedly subject men and women from South and Southeast Asia and East Africa to forced labor in domestic servitude, construction, cleaning, and begging, as well as sex trafficking. Male refugees and migrants are vulnerable to exploitative labor practices, including forced labor. Foreign domestic workers – who are not protected under Egyptian labor laws – primarily from Syria, Yemen, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, and parts of West Africa are highly vulnerable to forced labor; employers at times require them to work excessive hours, confiscate their passports, withhold their wages, deny them food and medical care, refuse to provide them with work visas, and subject them to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Some employers file false claims of theft to further exploit domestic workers. Traffickers subject women and girls, including refugees and migrants from Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East to sex trafficking in Egypt. An NGO reports migrant smugglers recruit economically marginalized migrants from the Horn of Africa to travel to Egypt in exchange for work or minimal fees; however, the smugglers then exploit the migrants, in particular unaccompanied children, at various locations along the migration route and in Egypt in sex trafficking, domestic servitude, and forced labor on construction sites in hazardous and exploitative working conditions. Once the migrants arrive in Egypt, the smugglers/traffickers subject them to debt bondage, holding them in captivity until their “debts” are paid. An international organization reported traffickers fraudulently recruit persons from Bolivia, Argentina, Haiti, and Sub-Saharan African countries to play or coach sports in Egyptian sports clubs, in particular soccer clubs, before confiscating their passports, and forcing them to do domestic work such as cleaning for club management and owners.

The government’s intention to push for potential below-inflation teacher pay rise in September 2025 has put into even starker context recent teacher training figures showing “vast under-recruitment” for a third straight year.

During the election campaign, the Labour Party pledged to recruit 6,500 new teachers “in key subjects”.

However, little detail has been forthcoming about how it defines this 6,500 target and how it intends to meet it. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that she is aiming to reach this goal by the end of this Parliament.

The challenge is stark. The annual initial teacher training (ITT) census has rarely made for happy reading in recent years and the latest figures, published last month (DfE, 2024), are no different.

For 2024/25, just 88% of the primary recruitment target and 62% of the secondary recruitment target was met. In total, there were 23,011 postgraduate trainees recruited – 14,753 secondary and 8,258 primary. A further 4,735 undergraduate trainees have been recruited.

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Some Saudi employers refuse to grant exit permission or pay the exit fee required by law to migrant workers, forcing them to work beyond their contract term and increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. Domestic workers, who make up 40 percent of migrant workers in the Kingdom, continue to lack protections under the labor law and other initiatives, increasing trafficking risks. Although most migrant workers sign contracts delineating their rights, some report work conditions substantially differ from those outlined in their contracts. Other workers never see their work contracts, heightening their risk of labor trafficking and debt-based coercion. Additionally, some migrant workers voluntarily enter into illegal arrangements where they seek freelance work while concurrently paying a Saudi national to sponsor their initial residency permit, thereby becoming vulnerable to extortion and trafficking through debt-based coercion by their sponsors using “free visas.”

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Saudi Arabia. Adults – primarily from South and Southeast Asia and East Africa – voluntarily migrate to Saudi Arabia to work in a variety of sectors, including construction, agriculture, and domestic service. Many of these low-skilled workers are employed in substandard conditions that heighten their risk of labor trafficking. Some traffickers or unscrupulous labor brokers illegally recruit migrants to work in Saudi Arabia and subsequently exploit them in domestic servitude. Undocumented entry across the Kingdom’s southwestern border via Yemen serves as a key gateway for vulnerable Yemeni, Ethiopian, and Somali workers, in particular. The Kingdom’s migrant worker population continued to be the largest group at risk of human trafficking, particularly female domestic workers due to their isolation inside private residences and vulnerability to employer abuse. Non-payment or late payment of wages, instances of employers withholding workers’ passports, and not having a contract on file remained the most prominent complaints from foreign workers in the Kingdom. Trafficking perpetrators include businesses of all sizes, private families, recruitment agencies in both Saudi Arabia and labor-source countries, gangs, and organized criminal elements, to include third-country nationals. Fraudulent recruiters increasingly use “General Services Offices” to facilitate illegal recruitment and transfer of workers to new employers without the worker’s consent; employers reportedly “sell” their domestic workers to another employer through these offices. Reports indicate traffickers in Saudi Arabia regularly sell and “trade” Ugandan domestic workers using an online marketplace. Trafficking increasingly use technology, including social media and other websites, to deceptively recruit victims through fraudulent employment opportunities that could lead to exploitative work conditions.

The Saskatchewan NDP is criticizing the provincial government on rural and remote registered nurse retention, with the nurses' union president adding that there's still no sign of a nursing task force. Data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information shows a drop of 526 rural and remote registered nurses from 2018 to 2023. Over that same time period, the number of registered nurses in Saskatchewan workforce has increased overall by 642.

A Cree Nation in northern Manitoba is the latest to be affected by a nursing shortage – something the federal and provincial governments say is a serious problem they’re working on. “The nurses are getting burned out. They’re having a hard time with their work due to a lack of sleep,” said David Monias, chief of Cross Lake (Pimicikamâk), 520 km north of Winnipeg. “And it’s creating a health crisis because we’re scared that something’s going to happen to one of our people.” Monias said his band council declared a state of emergency on March 8 to restrict access to its health centre, which is also known as a nursing station.

Refugees and migrants from Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen who live in Egypt are at risk of trafficking. After the onset of the Sudan conflict in April 2023 and due to restrictive visa policies affecting Sudanese refugees attempting to enter Egypt, international organizations report an increase in migrant smuggling and anticipate an increased vulnerability to trafficking. An NGO reported unknown perpetrators coerce some women and girls fleeing conflict to perform sex acts in exchange for visas to enter Egypt. NGOs and international organizations report unaccompanied children among the African migrant population are at risk of trafficking in Egypt; Sudanese gangs reportedly target unaccompanied and separated children and force or coerce the children to sell drugs or commit other petty crimes. Undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers from the Horn of Africa, who seek to transit Egypt en route to Europe, are at risk of trafficking along this migration route.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Egypt, and traffickers exploit victims from Egypt abroad. Traffickers subject Egyptian children to sex trafficking and forced labor in domestic servitude, street begging, drug trafficking, quarrying, and agricultural work in Egypt. Traffickers, including some parents, force children to beg in the streets or exploit girls in sex trafficking. An NGO reports visible increases in child forced begging incidents in part because of increasing economic challenges. NGOs report the lack of economic and educational opportunities causes family members, including parents, husbands, and siblings, to subject women and girls to sex trafficking or forced labor in domestic servitude to supplement family incomes. Extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse occurs primarily in Giza and Cairo, according to some reports. Individuals from the Arabian Gulf, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, purchase Egyptian women and girls for “temporary marriages,” also known as “transactional marriages,” for the purpose of commercial sex, including cases of sex trafficking, as well as forced labor; the victims’ parents and marriage brokers, who profit from the transaction, often facilitate these arrangements. Although an NGO and the government report “temporary marriages” have decreased since 2022, the practice continues. An NGO reported some parents facing socio-economic challenges force girls into permanent marriages where they are subsequently coerced into domestic servitude or commercial sex. An international organization reports some husbands coerce their adult wives into sex trafficking or domestic servitude.

One person has died and three others were injured after an arriving midsize jet hit a plane on the ground near Scottsdale Airport in Arizona on Monday, authorities said.

The crash "off the runway" was reported at 2:39 p.m., and first responders found one person dead on arrival, said Scottsdale Fire Capt. Dave Folio. The Federal Aviation Administration said a Learjet 35A veered off the runway after landing and crashed into a Gulfstream 200 business jet. Flights at the airport were paused, the FAA said, and the incident was under investigation.

Two other people were taken to hospital trauma centers, Folio said. Their injuries and conditions were unavailable. A third person was said to be stable. One of the injured was being extracted from the scene, Folio said.

It is not yet clear how the planes collided. "This is still an active scene," the captain said. Airport spokesperson Kelli Kuester described the aircraft as "midsize business jets." She said the arriving flight crashed into a jet "parked on private property" adjacent to the facility.

Some Saudi employers refuse to grant exit permission or pay the exit fee required by law to migrant workers, forcing them to work beyond their contract term and increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. Domestic workers, who make up 40 percent of migrant workers in the Kingdom, continue to lack protections under the labor law and other initiatives, increasing trafficking risks. Although most migrant workers sign contracts delineating their rights, some report work conditions substantially differ from those outlined in their contracts. Other workers never see their work contracts, heightening their risk of labor trafficking and debt-based coercion. Additionally, some migrant workers voluntarily enter into illegal arrangements where they seek freelance work while concurrently paying a Saudi national to sponsor their initial residency permit, thereby becoming vulnerable to extortion and trafficking through debt-based coercion by their sponsors using “free visas.”

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Saudi Arabia. Adults – primarily from South and Southeast Asia and East Africa – voluntarily migrate to Saudi Arabia to work in a variety of sectors, including construction, agriculture, and domestic service. Many of these low-skilled workers are employed in substandard conditions that heighten their risk of labor trafficking. Some traffickers or unscrupulous labor brokers illegally recruit migrants to work in Saudi Arabia and subsequently exploit them in domestic servitude. Undocumented entry across the Kingdom’s southwestern border via Yemen serves as a key gateway for vulnerable Yemeni, Ethiopian, and Somali workers, in particular. The Kingdom’s migrant worker population continued to be the largest group at risk of human trafficking, particularly female domestic workers due to their isolation inside private residences and vulnerability to employer abuse. Non-payment or late payment of wages, instances of employers withholding workers’ passports, and not having a contract on file remained the most prominent complaints from foreign workers in the Kingdom. Trafficking perpetrators include businesses of all sizes, private families, recruitment agencies in both Saudi Arabia and labor-source countries, gangs, and organized criminal elements, to include third-country nationals. Fraudulent recruiters increasingly use “General Services Offices” to facilitate illegal recruitment and transfer of workers to new employers without the worker’s consent; employers reportedly “sell” their domestic workers to another employer through these offices. Reports indicate traffickers in Saudi Arabia regularly sell and “trade” Ugandan domestic workers using an online marketplace. Trafficking increasingly use technology, including social media and other websites, to deceptively recruit victims through fraudulent employment opportunities that could lead to exploitative work conditions.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Qatar. Men and women from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sudan, Uganda, and other countries voluntarily migrate to Qatar as unskilled laborers and domestic workers, often paying illegal and exorbitant fees to unscrupulous recruiters in their home countries, thereby increasing their vulnerability to debt bondage. Many migrant workers subsequently face conditions indicative of labor trafficking, including restricted movement, excessive hours, delayed salaries or payment withholding, denial of employment-associated benefits, passport confiscation, and threats of salary withholding and deportation; in some cases, migrant workers face physical, mental, and sexual abuse as well as threats of serious physical or financial harm. Anecdotally, s-x traffickers force some women who migrate for legitimate employment offers to engage in commercial s-x.