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US urges GCC states to scrap sponsorship system
Gulf countries must scrap their sponsorship system for migrant workers that leaves labourers and domestic workers exposed to human trafficking and forced labour, the US State Department reported on Monday.
In a 373-page report, the department said that employers in the Gulf states exploit the widely used ‘kafala’ system to abuse workers and named Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as the region’s worst offenders.
Both were described by the department as a “destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour.”
The two countries were ranked in Tier 3, the lowest possible category; potentially leaving the pair open to US sanctions of non-humanitarian aid.
“These countries consistently fall at the bottom of the list when compared to others around the world,” said Nisha Varia of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“It is disappointing that governments across the Middle East have been slow to change the kafala system when it is so easily abused.”
Qatar and Lebanon were both placed on the Tier 2 watchlist, the report’s second lowest ranking. The UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt were each assigned a Tier 2 rating, indicating they have made significant efforts to tackle human trafficking.
Millions of migrants, primarily from Asia and Africa, have short-term employment contracts for blue-collar jobs in the construction, domestic work, and service industries across the Middle East.
Under the ‘kafala’ system, nationals and companies can hire migrant workers who are dependent on their employers for food and shelter.
Many workers complain that agencies or employers confiscate their passports, do not pay them regularly or deduct housing or health costs from their pay.
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