1,000,000 jobs abroad balancing numbers and rights in Kenya’s labour migration programme

Migrants performing low-waged work often face rights violations such as underpayment, dangerous working conditions or abuse. Some argue that economic incentives deter origin countries from pushing for better protection of their migrant workers abroad; others contend that protection efforts are integral to legitimising labour outmigration policy. This paper looks at Kenya and asks what the government’s goal to increase labour outmigration means for its willingness and ability to protect the rights of Kenyan migrants. Focusing on Kenya’s relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the analysis draws on interviews, policy documents, and media accounts. The findings lend empirical support
to the argument that economic incentives result in reduced protection – and show they do so even in an origin country with extensive domestic pressure to improve protection. It also shows how the government uses protective language to legitimise its actions, reframing the cause of rights violations as lying outside the KSA and overstating its efforts to improve protection. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which Kenya might improve its negotiating position, such as
through strengthening its migration bureaucracy.