Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, â€Žpdf 4.1 MB

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Withholding of wages One of the major causes of concern has been delayed payment, or nonpayment, of salary. An official from the National Human Rights Commission in Jordan told researchers about a case that had recently come to his attention “involving agricultural workers who had not been paid in eight months, and who couldn’t leave as their employer was withholding their passports”. 251 The situation is compounded by the fact that there is no specific regulation for agricultural workers in Jordan. Many of the migrant workers interviewed for this study said that they had been deceived about the level of pay they would receive. Quantitative research by the ILO in Kuwait and the UAE has found that about 12 per cent of the Kuwait sample and 27 per cent of the UAE sample said their monthly salaries had been fluctuating or irregular over the previous 12 months. Of the UAE respondents, 38 per cent had not received all the pay due to them from work in the previous three months because the employer had held back wages; of those, 90 per cent were construction workers. 252 The Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF) has received many complaints of salary retention, and has pressed the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour in Kuwait to solve them as a matter of urgency. One case that KTUF shared with the research team involved 180 migrant workers from Viet Nam, who had not been paid for nearly three months, as their employer had “run away” and “abandoned the Viet Nam labourers”. 253 Box 3.20. Withholding of wages “As an organization, the main complaint we have received concerns the non-payment of wages. The majority of the complaints come from cleaning staff and security guards working at schools, hospitals and other government buildings. These workers sometimes have to wait six to nine months before they are paid, and sometimes deductions are made from their wages. We usually contact the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour to resolve these cases and force the company to pay the workers their due wages. The cases are resolved more quickly if the companies have contracts with the government and have paid bank guarantees.” Interview with two officials from the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Kuwait, 26 March 2012. 251 Interview with an official from the National Human Rights Commission, Jordan, 17 Nov. 2011. 252 ILO: Kuwait Economic Society; University of Sharjah: Travels of hope, toils of despair, p. 21. The Kuwait survey involved 1,000 migrant workers, while that undertaken in the UAE involved 1,300 migrant workers. 253 Letter from the Embassy of Viet Nam in the State of Kuwait to the KTUF, 9 Oct. 2012. 115
Degrading living and working conditions Throughout the region, migrant workers interviewed complained about unacceptable living and working conditions. Afghan construction workers, interviewed in their room in the UAE, told researchers that “15 of us sleep in this room of 25 metres square, and at times we can be up to 25”. In Jordan, five Bangladeshi manufacturing workers were appalled by the decision of their sponsor to have “13 to 18 people sleeping in one room, it’s too much, too crowded”. Some workers said they had been provided with accommodation, but others had to find and pay for their own private lodgings. During one focus group discussion, five Indian men working as electricians in Kuwait explained: “We thought the sponsor would provide accommodation but we ended up having to rent an apartment as none was provided, and paid 60 KWD [US$215] a month per person to stay there.” Syrian workers in Lebanon could either live on the construction site for free or “in a room that we share with others for US$30 a month”. In the UAE, Pakistani retail workers said that some workers were housed while others had to rent their own rooms, “which are crowded and cost 600 to 800 AED [US$163–218] per month”. Conditions have also been causing increasing concern in Qatar, which has begun to open its doors to large numbers of additional migrants to build the infrastructure needed to host the football World Cup in 2022. This includes 12 football stadiums, additional hotels, and new rail and subway networks, as well as a complete new city to house 200,000 residents – at a cost expected to exceed US$100 billion. 254 Recent photographic evidence of poor housing conditions in labour camps prompted the ITUC’s general secretary to issue a statement during the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2012 calling for decent work for migrant workers: Working and living conditions for migrant workers in Qatar are modern-day slavery. As it undertakes a massive construction job for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar is putting at risk the lives of thousands of workers. Without genuine legal protection and union rights, more workers will die building the World Cup stadiums than players will play in the World Cup itself. 255 The Qatari authorities are currently exploring options to remedy this situation and ensure that the success of the World Cup is not bought at a high human cost. 254 ITUC: Qatar’s ambitions for the 2022 World Cup are pharaonic in scale, May 2011, http://www.ituc-csi.org/hidden-faces-of-the-gulf-miracle,9144.html [accessed 10 Aug. 2012]. 255 ITUC: ITUC confronts Qatari labour minister with new evidence of abuse of migrant workers (12 June 2012), http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-confronts-qatari-labour. html?lang=en [accessed 10 Aug. 2012]. 116
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In collaboration with TRICKED AND T
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Copyright © International Labour O
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officials, worker and employer repr
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3.3.2. Recruitment 101 3.3.3. Work
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MoJ MoL MWPS MoSAL NCCHT NCT NGO NH
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LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Dimension
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The realization of this research pr
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In an effort to fill gaps in unders
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There have also been cases of anima
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CHAPTER 1: FRAMING THE ISSUE 1.1. D
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People trafficked for any of the ex
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1.2. GLOBAL DEBATES ON HUMAN TRAFFI
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processes by which migrant workers
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Concerted efforts have been made to
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documented abuses against domestic
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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1. RESEARC
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Table 2.1. Dimensions of forced lab
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Table 2.4. Indicators of impossibil
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2.2. OVERVIEW OF DATA COLLECTED In
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Having said that, the Middle East i
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individuals who voluntarily agree t
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3.1.2. Recruitment of domestic work
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domestic worker explained, “many
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An official from the NGO KAFA went
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Another Filipina explained the supp
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In Jordan, an official from Tamkeen
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workers supported by the NGO report
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on the balcony. When it got cold, I
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3.1.4. Impossibility of leaving Wor
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Legally, the domestic worker has li
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embassy three times to make an emer
Page 65 and 66: given that it is not easy for a mig
Page 67 and 68: Analysis of the information provide
Page 69 and 70: country, or whose relatives are dec
Page 71 and 72: 3.2.2. Recruitment Recruitment of d
Page 73 and 74: to provide sexual services. Most of
Page 75 and 76: The research team was unable to int
Page 77 and 78: Box 3.9. A press report of traffick
Page 79 and 80: explained that in 2010 there were b
Page 81 and 82: There are conflicting views over th
Page 83 and 84: one nightclub owner in Amman. 144 T
Page 85 and 86: 2011, three minors and three adult
Page 87 and 88: Many reports confirm the interlinka
Page 89 and 90: Some claim that the situation of ar
Page 91 and 92: finish working, especially Tunisian
Page 93 and 94: Investigations carried out by the I
Page 95 and 96: Detention of women accused of prost
Page 97 and 98: Lack of any economic and social alt
Page 99 and 100: 3.3. OTHER ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES 3.3.
Page 101 and 102: Table 3.3. Overview of four process
Page 103 and 104: Indeed, many of those interviewed w
Page 105 and 106: workers, often requiring them to ta
Page 107 and 108: not suitable for the position so th
Page 109 and 110: The case of seafarers Stories emerg
Page 111 and 112: personnel from the ports to offshor
Page 113 and 114: of destination often happen through
Page 115: and we will find him a new job”.
Page 119 and 120: Ministerial Decree 1186 (2010) was
Page 121 and 122: Retention of personal documents Lac
Page 124 and 125: CHAPTER 4: REGIONAL RESPONSES TO HU
Page 126 and 127: In Lebanon, the Government ratified
Page 128 and 129: trafficking efforts in the seven em
Page 130 and 131: stipulating that employers must giv
Page 132 and 133: In Kuwait, in the absence of a spec
Page 134 and 135: 4.1.5. Prosecution of human traffic
Page 136 and 137: Box 4.1. Ending the use of child ca
Page 138 and 139: 4.2. STRENGTHENING THE INSTITUTIONA
Page 140 and 141: order management officers at the ai
Page 142 and 143: government action has, however, bee
Page 144 and 145: Box 4.3. Ending forced labour in th
Page 146 and 147: among migrant workers and no protoc
Page 148 and 149: to the needs of their citizens. The
Page 150 and 151: Dialogue in 2008 to promote a colla
Page 152 and 153: CHAPTER 5: A WAY FORWARD Comprehens
Page 154 and 155: to legally terminate a contract aft
Page 156 and 157: 5.3.2. Taking measures to reduce vu
Page 158 and 159: attention also needs to be given to
Page 160 and 161: with new skills, which will make it
Page 162 and 163: ANNEX: LIST OF STATES PARTIES TO KE
Page 164 and 165: BIBLIOGRAPHY National legislation B
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Lebanon Labour Code, 1946. Law on E
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International Convention on the Pro
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The Economist. 2010. “Little bett
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—. 2006. Multilateral Framework o
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—. 2011b. Qatar’s ambitions for
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—. 2010. The international legal
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Transient Workers Count Two. 2012.
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This regional study sheds light on
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