Saudi Arabia: “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia

Since 2017, as part of a campaign to crackdown on undocumented migrants, Saudi authorities have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants crossing the border from Yemen or residing in Saudi Arabia, held them in indefinite detention in inhuman and cruel conditions, subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment, and then forcibly returned them to their home country. These arbitrary arrests and subsequent treatment occurred solely because the migrants didn’t have valid residency documents, a situation exacerbated by the abusive kafala system in Saudi Arabia.

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