A British Broadcasting Corporation documentary showing African women and house maids being sold in Kuwait, Arab Gulf and Dubai in an online slave market has gone viral.
According to the documentary, the women mostly sold by these Arabs are largely black women from Africa.
They sell them for $800.
A BBC undercover team posed as a couple who wanted to buy a slave that was advertised online.
They put a call through to the seller and fixed a day to see the maid.
When they got to the seller’s house, they got to know that the slave is a 16-year-old girl from Ghana.
The journalists stated that by employing a maid below the age of 21, the woman (seller) was breaking Kuwaiti laws and could face up to six months imprisonment.
Also, the unidentified African women are sold on an application known as: “For Sale app,” provided by Apple and Google.
The For Sale app is also used to sell cars and other stuffs.
It was learnt that these women are sold and bought for thousands of United States dollars.
United Nations Special Rapporteur, Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Urmila Bhoola, who saw the documentary, noted that companies who host apps used for these slave trades will be held responsible.
Bhoola said: “This is a quintessential example of modern day slavery.
“Here we see a child being sold like a piece of property.
“What they are doing is illegal and it is not only is violation of national Kuwait laws, it is a violation of international human rights law and labour standings
“If Google, Apple, Facebook or any other companies are hosting apps like this, they have to be held accountable.
“What they are doing is promoting an online slave market.”
