A study from the organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC–Africa), the umbrella body of all Trade Unions in Africa, found workers had experienced a range of abuses including unscrupulous recruitment agencies and fees, a lack of "decent wages" and an inability to access justice. As rising unemployment sees an increase in migration across Africa to the Gulf countries for work, allegations of labour abuse against African migrant workers have also become more frequent.

In response, in June 2019 African trade unions launched a campaign across ten countries to highlight abuses against Africans in Gulf states. At a protest outside the UAE embassy in Abuja, workers handed over a letter with a list of demands to improve living and working conditions and to protect workers "from abuses and exploitations of crooked entrepreneurs and employment agencies and traffickers".