Members of Ethiopian communities living in the Middle East have formed a union to fight back against the abuse and suffering of Ethiopian migrant workers in the region. After a meeting in Addis Ababa on Monday (july 29) a memorandum of understanding was signed by representatives of Ethiopian communities in Jeddah, Riyadh, Bahrain, Dubai, Yemen, Lebanon and Qatar. The union vowed to defend the rights of Ethiopian migrant workers in all their countries and fight against illegal traffickers in coordination with the relevant and concerned government offices.

Recent studies indicate that the numbers of Ethiopian workers being smuggled into various Middle East countries has been growing steadily. Ato Rezene Lemelem, head of the Ethiopian Community Association in Jeddah said that the increase in the number of illegal traffickers was exacerbating the problem of trafficking. Ato Nebeyou Belete, deputy head of the Ethiopian community in Yemen noted that there were a significant number of Ethiopians "wandering in different cities of Yemen after being smuggled by tortuous paths into the country".