The Kafala System in the Middle East
By Pilar Canón Ríos
What is the Kafala System?
The Kafala System determines the relationship between foreign workers and their local sponsors who have near total control over their immigration status and the employee’s living conditions. In the Middle East, this system is present in the Gulf Cooperation Council-- which includes Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Origins of the System
The system arose from the necessity to regulate the treatment of foreign workers in commercial trades in the 20th century. It began expanding in 1950 due to the growing demand in Gulf economies for cheap labor and capitalized on many migrant workers’ need to send money to their origin countries. Given the Gulf Cooperation Council countries’ limited populations, they required more temporary employees who could come when the economy was thriving and go back home when it was not. In Gulf countries, where expatriates occasionally make up the majority of the population, protecting local businesses is a top issue. But the system also aimed to provide much-needed protection for workers in these countries.
How Does the System Work? What Are the Consequences for the Migrants?
In accordance with this system, the state issues local people or businesses sponsorship permission to hire foreign immigrants.
A country that takes part in the Kafala System offers local employers sponsorship permission in exchange for their agreement to pay for all travel, lodging, and transportation costs for prospective non-citizen employees. In order to identify workers and smooth their entry into the host nation, sponsors occasionally use private recruiting agencies in the countries of origin rather than hiring a person directly.
Even though this system is connected to labor legislation, it frequently comes under interior ministries rather than labor ministries, leaving workers with no protection under the host country’s labor law. The Kafala System makes it the employer's responsibility to maintain the legal status and visa of foreign employees, which limits many facets of an employee's mobility. Due to this, there is a mismatch in the power dynamic between an employer and employee, where the latter is always vulnerable, and the former holds the authority.
The employers have the power to:
Confiscate and withhold an employee’s passport and/or documentation
Refuse to let an employee transfer their contracts to another employer
End the contract, which results in the worker’s immediate deportation if a dispute arises between the parties
Impose “illegal” status if the employer refuses to issue an exit visa after the contract is terminated
This method of recruiting workers has become increasingly controversial due to its exploitative nature in many instances. Migrant workers are usually underpaid, have poor working conditions, and suffer abuse by the circumstances of their employment. This situation has been criticized by NGOs and human rights activists who claim this system facilitates modern slavery and demand a reform of the system to guarantee decent working conditions
International Response
Advocates for labor rights have long demanded that the system be changed or eliminated, and their claims have gained more attention in light of the 2020 global anti-racism protests. The 2022 World Cup organized in Qatar has turned global attention to migrant worker abuses. While the construction of hotels, roads, and stadiums where matches are going to take place were being carried out, high temperatures, above 100°F, have caused many of the workers to suffer heat-related deaths and injuries. Working hours were up to 10 hours a day.
Upon the announcement of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar did not alter its Kafala System policy, despite increased worldwide scrutiny of its administration. Implementation of the November 2017 announcement with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to dissolve the Kafala System and advance more equitable standards has not yet taken place. With its hosting of the 2022 World Cup, the number of migrant workers entering Qatar has increased significantly, worsening the living and working conditions for workers.
Qatar has also been criticized by Human Rights Watch for maintaining its strict absconding penalties, refusing to let employees renew their own residency permits, and not punishing wage violations harshly enough. The workers affected by these labor conditions in Lebanon--where injustices and abuses had become a focus of protests–had called for the end of these working conditions. The International Trade Union Confederation posits that reform of the system will be not enough and insist on its total abolition.
What is the Response From the Countries Utilizing The System?
Saudi Arabia has been a pioneer in reforming this system and several of the Gulf nations that use the Kafala System have undergone radical changes in the last year. However, the reforms do not apply to domestic employees, who are the most at risk in this scenario.
The reforms implemented by Bahrain and Qatar claimed to put an end to the Kafala System. However, despite the fact that some of these reforms have implemented positive steps, they have not achieved an equal balance of power between employees and migrant host countries. Once again, the reforms in place have failed in reaching domestic and agricultural workers.
In January 2016, the UAE introduced labor amendments that make it simpler for some employees to switch jobs. If the worker gives notice in line with the contract, or a minimum of one month, or if their employer waives the notice period, migrants in "highly skilled" occupations may terminate a fixed-term work agreement without suffering the typical employment prohibition. Here, if domestic and construction workers end their contract after six months of service they will not face any employment ban. On the contrary, if they finish the contract prior to six months of service, they will face a ban for six months.
Regarding Kuwait, in 2016 the country issued a decree allowing employees that have been working a consecutive service of three years to transfer sponsors without permission as long as they notify this change three months prior to the employee.
In Oman, migrant workers must obtain a no-objection certification (NOC) to change employers or face a two-year ban from returning to Oman. Employers may try to take advantage; by charging a fee or demanding employees to be able to quit their end-of-service benefits. In 2016 the country expressed its intention of abolishing the NOC requirements, but nothing has officially changed since then.
Lebanon launched a reform action plan in 2020 that addresses the key pitfalls of the Kafala system that can lead to forced labor. The enforcement of this new contract seeks to allow domestic workers to leave the household during their weekly day off and they are not required to pay recruitment fees. This reform also prohibits employers from freezing wages and confiscating passports or other personal documents. Despite these promises of reform, migrant workers are still operating under abuse and exploitation nowadays and a full abolition of the system is still demanded by international organizations.
Jordan also introduced a standard contract, but the results were like in the rest of the countries, insufficient to provide a tangible change in the lives and rights of migrant workers.