Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market - Full documentary - BBC News Arabic | BBC Africa Eye

In the Gulf, women employed as domestic workers are sold

online

, through applications provided by Google and Apple. It has been called an

online

slave

market

. BBC News Arab goes undercover in Kuwait to expose this shocking and disturbing online trade. It is an unregulated black

market

that deprives women and children of their basic human rights, leaving them at risk of exploitation and abuse. All of this was made possible by the tech giants of Silicon Valley. What they are doing is illegal. If Google, Apple, Facebook or any other company promotes apps like these, by hosting apps like these, they are promoting an online

slave

market.

In Kuwait, 90% of households employ a domestic worker: one for every two Kuwaiti citizens. The Kuwaiti government passed a new law in 2015 giving more rights to domestic workers. Together we are strong. And impose stricter regulations on this multi-billion dollar industry. But it has generated a lot of controversy. These new laws have pushed many to turn to a booming new industry, where domestic workers are bought and sold online. All you need is a Google or Apple smartphone. Ann Abunda is the founder of Sandigan. An organization that fights for the welfare and rights of domestic workers in Kuwait. Our BBC team pose as a husband and wife looking to purchase a domestic worker.

For your safety we cannot reveal your identities. We downloaded an app called 4Sale, the most popular commodity app in Kuwait, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Between cars, lawnmowers and televisions, there is a specific section where you can buy a maid. Our undercover team prepares to meet the seller. Our undercover reporter stays inside with the maid. This police officer was knowingly breaking the law. He was trying to sell us to her maid, he had confiscated her passport and had not given her a day off. All of which is illegal in Kuwait. Over the course of a week, our undercover team spoke to 57 4Sale users.

He has a built-in feature that allows him to filter by race, which violates Kuwaiti law and international law. Women cost between US$2,500 and US$5,000 (or £2,000 and £4,000). Under Kuwait's domestic worker law, it is illegal not to give your domestic worker one day off a week. It is also illegal for the employer to keep the passport of her domestic worker. But this is not just in Kuwait, and 4Sale is not the only app that is used. In Saudi Arabia we found hundreds of women being sold on Haraj, another popular commodity app. And on Instagram, owned by Facebook, we find hundreds more.

Many salespeople used racist and discriminatory language as part of their sales pitch. And in most cases, the women were unaware that they were being advertised online and then sold. Since 2010, Ann's organization, Sandigan, has rescued thousands of women from abusive homes. In Kuwait it is illegal for a domestic worker to flee from her employer. Ann was never charged with any crime. And since she was released from prison, she has dedicated her life to helping other vulnerable domestic workers in Kuwait. Under the “Kafala” system, agencies bring domestic workers into the country and then officially register them with the government.

Potential employers pay a fee to the agencies and become official sponsors of the domestic worker. Under the "Kafala" system, a domestic worker cannot change or quit her job, nor leave the country without the permission of her sponsor. Apps like 4Sale, Haraj and Instagram allow employers to sell the sponsorship of their domestic workers to other employers for profit. This bypasses agencies and creates an unregulated black market that leaves women more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. A new ad appears on 4sale, an African domestic worker for US$3,800. Our BBC undercover team arranges a meeting with the seller. Nothing can prepare you for what happens next.

We are surprised to find this woman offering to sell us a child. The young woman seems withdrawn and confused. By hiring a domestic worker under the age of 21, this woman is breaking Kuwaiti law and she could face up to six months in prison. She also confiscated the girl's passport, not allowing her any free time or leaving the house alone, all of which is illegal. This is the quintessential example of modern slavery. Here we see a child being sold and marketed as chattel, as property. Urmila Bhoola is the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. We see that the employer exercises coercion and control over this very vulnerable child.

What they are doing is illegal. It not only violates Kuwaiti national legislation. It is a violation of international human rights law and labor standards. We took our video of the young woman to Ann. Ann begins an investigation to see if she can contact the 16-year-old, who, to protect her identity, we will call 'Fatou'. Hello, hello sir. She alerts the Guinean embassy to see what they can do. The embassy needs her

full

name to be able to make inquiries. Ann asks our BBC undercover team if we can try to convince the seller to give us Fatou's passport details.

The passport reveals that her surname is "Bongono" and her birthplace is Conakry, the capital of Guinea. Now that Ann has Fatou's passport, she returns to the Guinean embassy. She avoids going directly to the Kuwaiti authorities for fear that they may arrest Fatou for being in Kuwait illegally. We head to Guinea to see what the police can do to help locate Fatou's family. They have no record of her having gone to Kuwait, but we are introduced to Jacques, a police officer who has the same last name as Fatou. Jacques decides to take some time off from his official duties as a police officer to look for Fatou's family and see if they are aware of his situation.

He begins the search among the Bongono community of Conakry. Jacques continues the search for her among the Bongono community of Conakry, but no one recognizes her. Every year, hundreds of underage girls are trafficked from Guinea. It is a lucrative industry for traffickers and a last resort for families trying to escape poverty. We agreed to meet a trafficker to find out how a young woman like Fatou could end up in Kuwait. He agrees to talk to us as long as we hide her identity. While we are filming, he sees two girls who have recently returned from Kuwait.

Do you see this one too? There was nothing good there. We agreed to meet Nana, Esther and another girl, Biba, away from the watchful eyes of the traffickers. Like Fatou, Biba, Nana and Esther were all minors when they went to work in Kuwait. Biba, Nana and Esther met in prison, after fleeing abusive employers. The three girls were rescued by their families. But it is estimated that there are hundreds of domestic workers languishing in Kuwait's prisons. We also show you the 4Sale application. Their experiences of being moved multiple times between employers without any options show signs of being bought and sold using the apps.

The majority of migrant domestic workers, female workers, are extremely vulnerable to exploitation in modern slavery. They find themselves in a strange environment, are usually not familiar with the language, are not allowed to communicate with their colleagues, and often live in isolation with the employer. Here we see an example of how digital technology is used negatively to violate your fundamental human rights and cause harm. Google, Apple and Facebook say they ban modern slavery and human trafficking on their platforms. Google's Modern Slavery Policy states that they are committed to eliminating modern slavery in all its forms. Facebook's own community standards say they do not allow organizations or individuals involved in human trafficking on their platforms.

And Apple's App Store review guidelines say that any discriminatory content that includes references to religion, race, gender or ethnicity is prohibited. But we discovered that thousands of domestic workers were being sold illegally using discriminatory language through hashtags used on Instagram and other apps hosted by Google and Apple, in violation of their own guidelines and international law. Back in Kuwait, Ann desperately tries to contact Fatou. Despite sending her passport details to the Guinean embassy, ​​they have not taken any action. Ann's colleague doesn't want to appear on camera. Now that Fatou has been sold, there is no other way to locate her than to go to the Kuwaiti government.

It's a measure Ann has been avoiding, as it often results in the domestic worker's arrest. In Guinea, Jacques decides to expand his search for Fatou's family to the remote forest regions of the country where the Bongono family comes from. He is 600 kilometers by car from the capital. We arrived at Mongo, a small market town in Gueckedou, where many people are Bongonos. Jacques hopes that someone here knows Fatou's family. He spreads the word that a girl is missing and the room quickly fills with people. Back in Kuwait, Ann's search for Fatou has also reached a dead end.

With no other options, we took our video of Fatou to the Kuwaiti authorities to see if they can help find her. Nasser al-Mousawi is head of the Domestic Workers Office. His job is to manage complaints and disputes between domestic workers and their employers. When problems arise, Nasser calls employers and their domestic workers to question them. He takes money for domestic workers, just to transfer his residence to them. In fact, this has been happening for a long time in Kuwait. May al-Tararwah is a lawyer with the Social Work Society, a Kuwaiti organization that supports domestic workers. I think the lady is not aware that this is a crime.

She is not aware of it. So she did it because she felt it was normal because she was out of fashion and that's how they think. Ten days later, Kuwaiti authorities contact Ann. There are good

news

. They have found Fatou. Ann meets Fatou at the state shelter for domestic workers. A government official is present and we are not allowed to film their conversation. There are more than 200 domestic workers in this shelter. It is intended as a temporary place for them to stay while they fight court battles or await deportation. An hour later Ann returns. Fatou told Ann that she had been in Kuwait for nine months and that she had worked for three households.

But during that time, she had only received two months' salary. Two days later, Fatou was deported to Guinea. Kuwait is one of the countries that has by far one of the most liberal sets of laws in the region protecting domestic workers. Under Kuwaiti law, it is illegal to advertise, sell or enslave a domestic worker. But despite this legal protection, we see a domestic worker and a child domestic worker being sold in flagrant violation of the law. It leaves us wondering about the extent of implementation of laws meant to protect workers. And if, in fact, any employers are prosecuted for their violations of the law.

So far, Kuwait has not introduced any new regulations to address the online market for domestic workers. The police officer and the woman who tried to sell us to Fatou did not give us a statement and no legal action has been taken against them. The Kuwaiti government declined to comment further on Fatou's case. Fatou has returned to Conakry. Her uncle and her grandmother cannot afford to take care of her, so she lives with a foster family. Fatou didn't want to show her face on camera, but she wants her story to be heard. Companies have a fundamental moral, ethical and legal responsibility to ensure that, in accordance with national and international law, these applications are removed and no longer available on the market.

If Google, Apple, Facebook or any other company hosts apps like these, they must be held accountable. What they are doing is promoting an online slave market. The online slave market continues to boom. And there are still thousands of domestic workers being bought and sold on Instagram, Haraj and other apps available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Unless governments enforce their own laws and Silicon Valley tech giants apply stricter regulations to their users, this online commerce will continue, leaving many women exposed to exploitation and abuse. After our investigation, 4Sale, the app that was used to sell Fatou, removed its domestic workers section and gave us this statement: Facebook, which owns Instagram, told us: "But we found that hundreds of posts were being used on Instagram that "They used similar hashtags." sell domestic workers.

Haraj, the commodity app used in Saudi Arabia, did not provide us with any statements. Google told the BBC: And Apple said: