Saudi Arabia vows to reform controversial ‘kafala’ migrant labour scheme

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Credit: Reuters

Saudi Arabia has announced it will allow foreign workers to leave the country and change jobs without their employer’s permission as part of significant reforms to its controversial “kafala” labour system.

The oil-rich Kingdom, and other Gulf states, rely on the so-called kafala system to support the construction and hospitality industries, but have faced repeated accusations of mistreating workers. 

Abdullah bin Nasser Abuthunain, the Saudi deputy minister for human resources, said the new rules would make the Kingdom a more attractive place to work. 

"Through this initiative we aim to build an attractive labour market and improve the working environment,” he said of the reforms, which will come into effect in March 2021 but will not apply to domestic workers. 

The kafala system generally binds a migrant worker to one employer. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have been calling on Saudi authorities to end that system as it leaves workers vulnerable to abuses.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph revealed that Saudi Arabia was keeping hundreds of workers in squalid conditions in an attempt to limit the spread of coronavirus. 

The disclosure led to the European parliament passing a resolution that condemned Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the workers, who had been tightly packed into small rooms with barred windows. 

One Ethiopian man held in the centre told The Telegraph: “It’s hell in here. We are treated like animals and beaten every day.” The Saudi government says it has launched an investigation into the allegations. 

The labour reforms are part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme, a package of economic and social policies designed to free the kingdom from reliance on oil exports.

Saudi officials said they introduced the reforms as they needed to address "many wrong practices" in the labour system.

"The term kafala does not officially exist in Saudi labour laws since more than 20 years ago; however, there were many wrong practices that helped breach the contractual relation," said Sattam Alharbi, the deputy minister for work environments.

Human Rights Watch has claimed that the kafala system "abuses and exploitation including forced labour, trafficking, and slavery-like conditions".