*Young women from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Africa, are allegedly exploited by European modeling agencies.
An exclusive Sunday Times investigation published Oct. 8 highlights dozens of models from impoverished camps recruited by top fashion labels. “Some were still working in Europe, with varying degrees of financial success, while others had returned having not made anything,” The Times writes on its official Instagram account.
According to the report, the Kakuma refugee camp is run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is one of the world’s biggest refugee camps, home to 280,000 people, and more than half are from South Sudan.
Select, one of the world’s leading agencies, uses a hotel outside Kakuma to scout for talent.
Per The Times, Puglisi, the CEO of Select, said, “… models come for shows for three to four weeks. Then they return home.” The agency, he said, is not moving these models to Europe permanently.
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According to the reports, scouts at Select use tape measures to check models’ size. Models must return to the camp when they fail to meet agency standards.
“I worked hard but came back with no money,” South Sudanese model Achol Malual Jau told The Times. The agency also billed her €3,000 ($3,177 U.S. dollars) for expenses.
“A lot of people think I have money because I went to Europe — I say I have nothing,” she said.
Here’s more from MadameNoire:
Nyabalang Gatwech Pur Yien, 24, told The Times that she signed an English contract with the agency despite “barely” understanding the terms of the document. Yien speaks Nuer, a tribal language native to South Sudan. She left Kakuma only to return 17 days later, owing €2,769.46 (approximately $2,932 U.S. dollars). Her debts remain unpaid.
In a statement, Puglisi “noted that the debt receipts were a “fiscal obligation” and that they never asked for reimbursement,” the outlet writes.
Per The Times, Puglisi said the company loses hundreds of thousands of euros and pounds annually for unrecoverable model advances.
On Instagram, one user commented under The Times’ post, “So once again, Europe is profiting from exploiting Africans and trying to twist it into something positive. They never change…”
Another wrote, “These agencies are human trafficking, pure and simple.”
A third user added, “Vile on so many levels, mostly for taking advantage of displaced, desperate CHILDREN so that brands can tick a ‘diversity’ box. But also how f**ked up is it that poverty-induced malnutrition is being fetishised? Models choosing to starve themselves is grim enough – this is a whole new low.”
READ MORE: Black Model Reveals She ‘Lost Everything’ After Speaking Out About Racism
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