my country, malawi, is one of the poorest in the world. so many women from here hoped to improve their lives in the middle east, only to find they are trapped. this is their story and a story of extraordinary women fighting to bring them home. i will explain to you honestly what i know. she was raped. she was then forced to have an abortion. i just want to help her go home. ifeel like i'm in prison. please, please, please, madam, please!

human trafficking is one - of the most profitable business in the world. any african should never go to this country. never. not for money. then you are lost. indistinct arguing you crazy! i was angry. i was crying. this is more than slavery. that's what i think. we want our people back. how can you buy somebody else's freedom? the employers pay an agent for providing a domestic worker. one of the most common challenge is that the employer or agent says, "i want my money back. "then she can go home." because we understand that this money fuels human trafficking,

fuels labour exploitation, it's very important to negotiate to zero. so i got a message from your employer. he's asking for the money. i think we can work something out with him. but before we really start negotiating with him, i want to hear from you that you do want to go home because he's saying that you don't want to. it's the employers who often break contracts by not giving girls a day off a week, by treating them abusively and failing to pay their salaries. so paying with this money sets a dangerous precedent. charity, i've grown so connected with her that... ..i always wait

to hearfrom her. i have been trying to contact agents in malawi for months. finally, we get a break, getting rita's phone number. the centre for democracy and economic development initiative, cdedi, has called on government to act in a manner that cares about the welfare of malawian women enslaved in oman in the middle east. pressure is mounting here as news of the appalling treatment girls are facing is spreading. he makes radio announcement

if you are just tuning in, this is police fm. - and we are having guests - from the ministry of homeland and a representative _ from the malawi police service. we are discussing on the topic of human trafficking. - on the ground, there is a big problem in human trafficking. 300 days, we are stuck in oman. so government is doing everything possible to bring back those girls. these girls says not all that glitters is gold. so the message to the youth in our country is that, when it is too good to be true, it probably is not true. don't fall prey to these recruiters. the malawi government has set aside $400,000 to pay omani employers and to bring the women home. they hope to send a delegation to oman. government efforts to send a delegation to oman to start

the repatriation process have been frustrated. the delegation, suddenly they found themselves not being given their visas. so this has delayed the process of bringing back the women back to malawi. how are you doing? how are you feeling that you're home now? i'm just happy. i'm so happy. god bless you. my role in this omani issue, ifelt like a mother being there to comfort them, as i will do the same to my child. when i heard the update from malawi government that, you know, we are ready to go to oman, but our visas are delayed, i was angry, i was crying. what kind of government is oman? why are they delaying the visas? we want our people back. the sponsors in oman, i feel so angry at them. i feel so mad at them.

they really need to change the way they treat a fellow human being. malawi is a poor country. there's too much people who are suffering. we, as in the nation, we all are wrong. as... we are wrong in every corner of what is happening in the nation. if the young girls had an opportunity to have jobs in malawi, they were not going to be trapped. we need to fix the nation so that these youngsters will never be trapped like this.

whilst efforts to help women return falter... ..our undercoverjournalist gets back in touch with rita, who sent charity to oman, as well as other girls we have spoken to. phone rings hi! rita is one of many agents we have followed here

who profit from women, deceiving them of the reality that awaits them. on the 16th ofjune 2023, social media in my country erupted as we heard that one of the young women, aida, had died. shouting, wailing the distressed voices of women with her suggested the sponsor or employer had dropped her back at the office. she was close to her death.

images on social media showed her skeletal, unresponsive figure. the malawi government brought her body home and she was buried at dawn without any press attention or autopsy. it's eight weeks since aida passed away and her mother has agreed to speak to me. she lives in the muslim dominated district of mangochi, several hours' drive from lilongwe. the family trauma is so hard to see.

so aida is one of these cases.

we believe that her working and living conditions led to mental health issues. the employer brought her back to the office. she was kept in the office without medical attention or support. she was dying. and it was until the last moment that the agent decided to take her to the hospital where she died. for a domestic worker to be able to work in oman, they have to go through a medical assessment. if she is seen unfit to work, a visa will not be given. so obviously aida was fit. she was healthy when she came. there should be an investigation. no—one has been held accountable. nobody was investigated.

not the employer. not the agent. someone should be held accountable. aida is one case. there are more. i think the responsibility falls not on just the employer or the agent, but also on the system that allows this to happen. so this is one we just received i see here last sunday. we are trying to figure out what is her name. this video is being taken at the agency and the agents know who she is. they will not tell us. and obviously she needs medical support, medical help, and possibly that is

what happened with aida. many young women are recruited from mangochi district. as well as aida, charity, whom i have grown so close to, and who is too in oman, comes from here. being here, seeing women enjoying themselves makes me think of her and the life she's missing.

from phone: as i'm saying, i'm banned, i'm banned. - they say for me, "you have to pay back the money." i'm tired, please come for me. 0k. do you know why she was arrested? as we are filming, we have learned that the malawi government are finally allowed to travel to oman. they intend to pay for the release of all the women on the whatsapp group. when sponsors or employers are told their maids want to return home, the situation often becomes more difficult. just now, charity was texting me to say that the government people called her sponsor yesterday... some women are taken to the police station to confirm they want to leave. some of the women were

threatened by the employer before going to the police station. and in the case of charity, that's exactly what happened in the police station. instead of speaking to her privately in a safe space, she was being questioned in front of the employer. unfortunately, from then on, things turned difficult for her, because the employer knew that she had already asked someone else for help.

i know that charity counts on me. she always comes to me to talk to me about each and every issue she's facing. and this one is breaking my heart, because i know she's in a difficult situation. charity sent, just sent another text. she's crying. she seems to be in big trouble and she's saying she wants the government...she can try to call them and let them know that she's in so much trouble. so she's saying the bosses are now back and they're shouting at her. they want their money. she doesn't have the money. all she can do is cry, hide. 0k. so i heard also from the government now there

are three women at least that they want me to negotiate with where the sponsors are asking extremely big money and now including charity. she was then made to sign a document. we believe that it states that she will stay. just now, charity was texting me to say that the boss is furious and they have disconnected her internet on the usual phone that he uses and now they have told her to give them back their money. i just want to hear from you and check whether you have heard anything, whether they have said anything. when was the last time that you saw her connected? just to check on her. last thing that she wrote. "i need your help urgently. "i'm in a bad situation." this was at three, almost

four o'clock today. and then i replied, and she has not replied. now it's almost ten. it's been a few hours of sadness to me because i don't know what's happened to charity. i don't know if she's ok. she's gone offline. i don't know what will happen to her. 0k. so they were able to reach

the sponsor and i think they threatened him. so he said that he's going to drop her off on saturday. it seems that he's going to be dropped off at... wow. ..where the government is staying in the hotel and that's where he's going to... this is amazing. and hopefully to travel on sunday. finally. i don't know. i'm just so happy. i was super—worried. and then now hearing this, ijust feel this is the most beautiful news of the day. it seems that she will be flying out on sunday. thank you! it's strange to be at the airport again, and this time waiting for charity. i can't wait. it feels like my sister

is coming home. hey! i cannot lie. i'm just so excited for her. it's amazing. she's free. the malawi government has asked oman not to give visas to malawi citizens. to date, we believe there has been no response. but with news of these women coming home, agents here are changing track. rita never sends the documents she promised.

last week, i noticed that the group is quiet. so as a mother of the group, i said, "let me check how many are home now." almost all of them that i had on my group are home. i felt so excited that they are back home alive. ifelt like a winner. so in the repatriation list we have 52 people, but then we also have aida. so we really have 51. the majority of these women have been released because money has been paid to the employer, from $1,000 to $2,000 per person just for the release, plus the flight ticket. so basically their freedom had to be bought, and that's what bothers me. how can you buy somebody else's freedom? it's estimated that up to $150,000 was paid by the malawi government

for these women to return. there is no transparency about the hundreds of thousands more set aside. those who have returned have no help to enable them to move on. they live with trauma as well as the poverty they tried so hard to escape.

hello, there. it certainly was a windy weekend, but the winds are going to be a lot lighter on monday, and that's because storm kathleen, to the north of scotland,

is weakening and moving away. but we are seeing more cloud coming in from the south across england and wales, and this area of low pressure is taking a bit of rain northwards, as well. clearer skies, scotland and northern ireland, will mean a chilly start here. we've got the early rain in north wales and northern england moving northwards and largely petering out across southern scotland. later in the day, we'll see some rain arriving in northern ireland. this rain in the south—west of england pushes back into wales, and some showery bursts of rain arrive in southern england and later into the midlands. but ahead of that, we'll get some sunshine for a while in the midlands and eastern england, so temperatures back up to a healthy 17 or 18 degrees. now, if you're hoping to get a view of the partial solar eclipse in northern and western parts of the uk — well, it could be spoiled by all this cloud that's coming in, and the outbreaks of rain, as well. now, we've seen the back of one area of low pressure, but there's another one arriving. this is one that's going to sit around overnight and into tuesday, and it's

going to take the rain northwards, all the way into scotland by tuesday morning. the rain, curving back into england and wales around the low, turning to drift away eastwards into the north sea, allowing brighter but more showery weather to come into southern and western areas, and the winds will be picking up, as well. we're looking at gale force winds around some southern and western coasts of england and wales, and with the winds picking up, and that cloud and showery rain around, temperatures are going to be a lot lower. it's going to be a cooler day on tuesday. our top temperatures are only 11 or 12 degrees, and that's because we're seeing this north—westerly wind picking up on tuesday, into tuesday night. but i don't think that cool air is going to last long. out in the atlantic, there is milder air, and that's following this weatherfront, which is going to bring cloud and rain in from the west. ahead of that, though, eastern areas starting dry on wednesday, with some early sunshine, but soon clouding over. rain in the west pushes eastwards, heavier rain for a while, northern ireland, the hills and north—west england and also into scotland, lighter rain as you head further south across the uk. but it's gradually getting a little bit warmer on wednesday despite all that cloud — 14, maybe 15 degrees.

but the wind direction is changing — we're getting a south—westerly wind. that is going to bring warmer weather back across the whole of the uk towards the end of the week, and temperatures could be back up to around 20 celsius at best.

live from washington, this is bbc news. six months since the attacks by hamas on israel, hostages' families tell benjamin neta nyahu to bring them home now. events are held across rwanda to mark three decades since the beginning of the genocide against ethnic tutsis. and moderate hutus. we will speak to one survivor. the range of minority to fight its walls.

—— roningha minority to fight its wars. israel's military says it is withdrawing most of its troops from southern gaza. the defence minister claims israel's weeks—long attack on the city of khan younis means hamas is no longer functioning as a military organisation there. the israeli military says troops will now prepare for another assault, including on the city of rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million palestinians are sheltering. it is now six months since hamas attacked israel, killing some 1,200 people, taking more than 250 hostages and triggering the war. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, insists the group will be eliminated, but as jeremy bowen reports, an israeli victory looks farfrom certain. over six months, gaza has been ravaged by war, disease, death and now imminent famine, caused by israel's siege. the un calls it "a betrayal of humanity."

kibbutz nir oz, right on israel's border with gaza, feels like a time capsule —