By Danny Gonzales-Hyde, Staff Writer
On November 4, I spoke with a Saudi Arabian national named Yahya about the kafala system in Saudi Arabia. The kafala system is a legal system that gives the employers almost complete control of their employees, who are migrant laborers. This system provides cheap, controllable labor for the employer, since the migrant workers lack protections that other workers enjoy. Consequently, this has resulted in poor working conditions for the migrants and, in extreme cases, the abuse of the migrant workers by their employers.
Saudi Arabia isn't the only country with a version of the kafala system, it also operates in a variety of other countries in the Persian Gulf Coast region such as Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and others. Yahya had once employed kafala migrants before the Saudi Crown Prince announced in March 2021 that he would be making major changes to the system. These changes make it easier for the employee to change employers, while also making it possible for the employee to leave the country temporarily and then re-enter. Nevertheless, all these newly granted worker rights would need to be approved by the Saudi government on an individual case.
Kafalas in Saudi Arabia are mostly from poorer countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Lebanon and their salary is based on the migrant worker's country of origin. For example, Bangladeshis, such as the kafala who works in Yahya’s apartment complex, would receive some of the lowest pay while Lebanese people would receive some of the highest pay. While kafalas are employed, they are subjected to do whatever labor their employer demands of them, regardless of their own wants or needs, in exchange for being taken care of by their employer. I asked Yahya what he provided for his kafalas and he said that besides basic housing accommodation and a salary, he also pays for the kafalas’ flights in and out of the country. When I asked about how easy it would be for a kafala to leave if they wanted to, he told me that if he wanted them to stay, they would because he was in possession of the kafalas IDs and passports which would be necessary to leave. This is common practice for the kafala employers. Furthermore, when I inquired about the living conditions provided for the kafala he employs in his apartment complex, he said that he is provided with his own private living space with both a private bathroom and kitchen. Yahya claimed that this particular kafala migrant buys Pepsi and other beverages and then resells them to the construction workers across the street who are also the kafala’s main friends according to Yahya.
Oftentimes in the workplace, the employee and employer don't always see eye to eye for a variety of reasons. For Yahya and his kafala, their arguments usually involve differing opinions about the most efficient way for work to get done, nothing that would be punishment worthy. When I inquired about what kind of actions would be punishment worthy and what that punishment may look like, Yahya recounted a story of a male Bangladeshi worker who had gone to Yahya’s uncle's house to look at the girls’ party and after being caught, they brought him back to Yahya’s house. Upon arrival back at Yahya’s house, they invited all the Pakistani and Indian workers who lived in the same housing accommodation to watch as they proceeded to beat the man's feet with a wooden stick. Yahya claimed that such offenses like this one are justifiable reasons for punishment. When asked about the drawbacks of employing a kafala migrant after the recent reforms, Yahya pointed to how he can no longer depend on the kafala to exclusively work for him, as they can now seek new employment elsewhere if so desired.
The exploitation of the kafala migrants has put the system under much scrutiny from the international community and human rights organizations in recent years as parallels have been drawn between it and labor systems that have been discontinued such as indentured servitude, sharecropping, and slavery. The dehumanizing nature of the kafala system also leaves us with more questions than answers as to why a system like this exists in today's world. But in order to further dismantle this system, we have to ask ourselves who are the beneficiaries of exploiting the kafala migrants labor and from there we can gain a better understanding as to why it remains in place.
