Monitoring for Protection: Reducing Workplace Sexual Violence Against Sudanese Refugees in Egypt

Sudanese refugees in Egypt—particularly women—are highly vulnerable. Many are employed informally in domestic work, where they are isolated, face little to no labor protections, and are often subject to exploitation. Their undocumented or precarious legal status limits access to formal justice, making them frequent targets of sexual violence and abuse in the workplace. Employers, aware of these vulnerabilities, often act with impunity.

This pilot was developed through support from a HPI Exploratory Grant [HPI-24-02532]. In January 2025, our team traveled to Egypt, conducted extensive focus groups with diverse refugee communities, and established partnerships with the GBV and Livelihood Units at Caritas Egypt and UNHCR Egypt. These qualitative insights revealed systemic abuse and impunity in domestic labor and directly shaped the proposed intervention. The study evaluates whether third-party monitoring can reduce sexual violence at work. In collaboration with

Caritas Egypt, we will implement a two-step randomized controlled trial (RCT) enrolling Sudanese refugee women working in domestic labor. 

The project tests two pathways through which monitoring might improve protection:

(1) Selection—whether the prospect of monitoring deters abusive employers from hiring workers; 

(2) Deterrence—whether informing current employers of upcoming monitoring improves behavior by increasing perceived accountability.

In Step 1, we will recruit employers seeking to hire refugee workers and randomly inform half that their contract includes well-being check-ins by Caritas. In Step 2, we will contact current employers and randomly inform half about upcoming check-ins. We will survey refugees on GBV exposure, psychosocial well-being, and labor conditions.