The government of Kenya has been urged by the Central Organization of Trade Unions (Cotu) to ban employment agencies that transport migrant workers to Saudi Arabia.
This is in response to a viral video that purported to show a Kenyan woman breastfeeding dogs in the Gulf country.
The BBC has not verified the authenticity of the video.
But speaking to reporters on Sunday, Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli said the woman, who had left a two-month-old baby in Kenya, was compelled by her employer to breastfeed the puppies.
COTU boss Atwoli speaks after Kenyan records herself while “breastfeeding dogs in Saudi Arabia”, wants employment agencies banned in Kenya. #NTVatOne pic.twitter.com/r9sgcVvH7i
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) October 9, 2022
“I want to appeal to the administration to go the way the first government under former President Mwai Kibaki did. He banned all employment agencies in Kenya,” Mr Atwoli said.
The union leader asked President William Ruto to stop the “indirect slavery” of Kenyan migrants and negotiate for their welfare with the gulf countries.
High unemployment rates in Kenya has prompted young people to migrate to gulf countries in search of jobs as domestic workers and labourers.
Many migrants have reported mistreatment in the Middle East and most recently in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.