CORRUPTION

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State-Sponsored Slavery: Migrant Labor in the GCC State-Sponsored Slavery: Migrant Labor in the GCC Mr. Husain Abdulla Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain The prevalence of human trafficking and forced labor in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states is a result of governmental inaction and negligence. Although the Governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain have all pledged to actively combat human trafficking in recent years, they have not adequately addressed key factors contributing to modern slavery. Millions of South Asian, East Asian, and African workers who migrate to the Gulf are highly vulnerable to exploitative conditions amounting to forced labor. Many are often abused within this system, and those who attempt to escape can find themselves further trafficked; women who flee abuse are especially vulnerable to being forced into prostitution and sex trafficking. The governments of the GCC states sponsor this exploitation of labor and perpetuate the cycle of abuse. All Gulf states still maintain the kafala system of sponsorship-based employment, despite the Bahraini government’s claims that it has dismantled it. Many states have not reformed their inadequate labor laws, and none have followed through on antitrafficking initiatives. Human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual exploitation will never be successfully eradicated in the Gulf if the GCC states continue to sanction such abusive practices. International Affairs Forum All Gulf states utilize the kafala system of sponsorship-based employment that delegates responsibility for foreign workers to private citizens. Under the kafala system, a migrant worker’s immigration status is legally tied to a citizen sponsor, who oversees a migrant’s work and residency permits. Tying an employee’s visa status and mobility to his or her employer strips the worker of his or her autonomy and personal rights. GCC governments give considerable power to the sponsor, rendering migrant workers entirely dependent upon their sponsors throughout their employment periods. A worker cannot change and/or leave jobs without employer permission, and employers often confiscate workers’ passports and identity documents, as well as withhold their wages. As the International Labor Organization (ILO) affirms, the kafala system favors the rights of employers as it fails to provide for the protection of the rights and welfare of migrant workers. The kafala system also restricts the mobility of migrant workers. Passport revocation is rampant within the GCC. Most employers take their workers’ passports immediately upon arrival. As employers control migrant laborers’ passports, they effectively control their movements. Passport revocation is frequently the first in a long string of labor abuses carried out by employers. In some states, migrants are forced to obtain permission from their employers in order to receive an exit visa. The particularly strict exit visa regulations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia mandate that foreign workers obtain permission from their employers to exit the country. This system, especially in its Saudi Arabian and 104
International Affairs Forum Fall 2016 Qatari forms, contravenes the stipulations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 13, for example, enshrines the right of movement. It states that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state”, and “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” These rights are also found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Bahrain and Kuwait are the only signatories in the GCC. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has stated that the exit visa is a source of abuse and that “there is no valid justification for maintaining this system.” As a result of the pervasive kafala system, unscrupulous recruitment practices, and weak enforcement of insufficient labor laws, the GCC governments are effectively maintaining a statesanctioned trafficking network—one that forces its victims to endure conditions which amount to forced labor. The abuse that migrant workers suffer under the kafala system begins in the source country during the recruitment process. Although many GCC countries prohibit workers paying their own recruitment fees, this ban is poorly enforced, and laborers often feel compelled to take out large loans in order to pay the exorbitant fees. Being indebted upon arrival forces migrant workers to accept lower wages from their employer, as they cannot afford to pay additional recruitment fees for a new placement or to return home. Taking further advantage of migrant workers, employers often practice contract substitution. This means that the nature of the laborers’ work, as well as their promised salaries as stipulated in the original contracts signed during recruitment, often changes upon arrival to the Gulf. Gulf countries try to mitigate recruitment abuse by signing agreements with source countries. For example, GCC member states and source countries with large numbers of emigrants often enter into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). India recently signed MoUs with Bahrain and the UAE in the hope of mitigating human trafficking and implementing best practices for migration. Saudi Arabia has struck similar agreements with Cambodia and Somalia. Still, while such agreements may represent an attempt to address the problem of human trafficking, none of them are legally binding. These MoUs are purely aspirational. None of the GCC states have drafted or passed legislation to reinforce the content of these agreements. Initial rights violations such as contract substitution and passport revocation do not constitute the only abuses faced by migrant workers during their time in the Gulf. Employers exercise extensive oversight of their workers, and the lives of migrant laborers are highly regimented as a result. Workers generally receive accommodations, but many of these facilities are overcrowded and unsanitary. Companies also arrange for transportation to and from the worksites and the migrant workers’ accommodations. While they work, migrant laborers are often subjected to physical abuse at the hands of their employers. Most are expected to do harsh physical labor with few—if any—breaks for long hours in extreme weather conditions. As the mistreatment of migrant day laborers continues, the GCC states have also taken little action to protect migrant domestic workers. Domestic workers remain entirely excluded from the labor laws of Oman, Qatar, and the UAE, and receive minimal protection in the labor laws of Bahrain, Kuwait, and Fall 2016 105
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Fall 2016 Volume 7, Issue 2 CORRUPT
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HUMAN TRAFFICKING 73 Interview with
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Special Themed Issue: Editors’ In
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9 Corruption - Security: Forging US
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NEW FROM GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRES
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Corruption-Security: Forging US Str
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Corruption-Security: Forging US Str
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Political Will - or Political Won
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Political Will - or Political Won
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Interview with Raymond Baker Intern
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Interview with Jessica Tillipman In
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Interview with Dr. Julio Bacio Terr
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Interview with Professor Louise She
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Corruption: Is the Right Message Ge
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Corruption: Is the Right Message Ge
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Interview with Professor Suelette D
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New Methods to Engage Civil Society
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New Methods to Engage Civil Society
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Transparency and Open Contracting T
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Page 60 and 61: Treating Health and Pharmaceutical
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Page 64 and 65: Interview with Professor Emerita He
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Page 68 and 69: Global Anti-Corruption Conditionali
Page 74 and 75: 73 Interview with Dr. Myria Vassili
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Page 80 and 81: Interview with Matthew Friedman Int
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Page 84 and 85: Interview with Matthew Friedman Int
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Page 88 and 89: The Potential Correleation Between
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Page 102 and 103: Interview with Dr. Osei Bonsu Dicks
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Page 110 and 111: Child Trafficking in China: Who Are
Page 116 and 117: Interview with Dr. Robert Lawson In
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Page 120 and 121: Interview with Professor Susanne Lu
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Page 140 and 141: Interview with Ms. Taina Bien-Aimé
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Lessons Learned by NGOs in the Figh
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Lessons Learned by NGOs in the Figh
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REFERENCES AND FOOTNOTES Corruption
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%e2%80%9chow-to%e2%80%9d/, 25 Novem
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1 By Law No. 228/2003. 2 In particu
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Shen, Anqi (2015). Offending Women
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direct experience of some of the is
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