A new normal? 7 The Coronavirus pandemic has been an
unprecedented challenge for the world, not just the Arab Gulf countries. With economies hugely dependent on international migration, trade, and travel, the societies of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar were perhaps particularly exposed to the health and other risks posed by the virus. The authorities in these three countries were quick to outline measures to protect and mitigate the risks of the pandemic on health, livelihoods and the wider economy. Yet, as this report sets out in detail, those measures have been inadequate when confronted with the human rights impact of the virus on one of the most vulnerable and essential groups in their societies – migrant workers. At its heart, this failure is due to a two-tier labour system that treats low-wage migrant workers as less human than nationals and high-wage migrant workers.
Over the last decade, the authorities of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been on the path to reforming their labour markets and addressing key rights protections. With the support of the ILO and international trade union bodies, Qatar has passed a suite of major legislative reforms that seek to address the most violative aspects of the kafala sponsorship system. The United Arab Emirates has sought to develop a local labour market by allowing workers to change jobs or leave the country with greater freedom than previously existed. Saudi Arabia has announced a raft of labour reforms that, if implemented, would enable workers to change jobs and leave the country as they choose. Some business enterprises have led the way in developing worker welfare standards that, in some key areas, match or expand upon labour rights protections under international conventions.
Even in the context of the pandemic, there have been examples of good practice and positive policy initiatives, which have been introduced by one or more of the three countries reviewed in this report.
The fact that government authorities in the Gulf are prepared to commit to policies like providing
free health care to migrant workers, on an equal basis with its citizens, and regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, nationality or residency status, is a positive advance. So too is Qatar’s stated ambition that many of the measures introduced to support and protect migrant workers as part of its efforts to combat COVID-19 “will lead to permanent changes that have a positive effect on the society as a whole.” Promises of a reform to the kafala system in Saudi Arabia from March 2021, particularly steps towards the elimination of the exit permit and increased internal labour market mobility, are welcome. If these changes were to be enacted into law and adequately implemented consistent with international conventions and standards, they could lead to a significant
improvement in rights compliance in the Qatar and Saudi labour markets.
But even these changes cannot address the significant gaps in protecting the human rights of millions of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. In a time of unprecedented financial shock businesses may need to reassess budgets for wages and other benefits. But the speed and level of support given to key businesses by state authorities has not always translated into adequate protection of migrant worker wages and wellbeing. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates all passed laws that allow employers to place migrant workers on unpaid leave, annual leave, reduced hours and/
or reduced wages. These provisions were supposed to be enforced through mutual consent. However, even if migrant workers were aware of this
provision, the kafala system and a power dynamic that favours employers, make it extremely hard for migrant workers to effectively oppose contractual changes that adversely impact them in the absence of their ability to lawfully join or form a union and collectively bargain.
Gulf authorities must address the highly
discriminatory character of their labour regimes which enshrine protections to nationals but not to non-nationals. The poor conditions of quarantine
facilities and gaps in access to health care and protections against the virus are also a reflection of the discrimination faced by migrant workers. Were the rights of low-wage migrant workers respected without discrimination, they would surely not be left to languish in squalid, crowded, and unhealthy camps and quarantine facilities.
The inability to respect the right of migrant workers to form and join a union, and collectively bargain, means that a critical ingredient to
resolving labour disputes and developing a mature, rights-compliant labour market is absent. Given the scale of the migrant worker populations, an estimated 24 million in the three countries combined, state authorities and businesses alone will continue to struggle with labour disputes involving dozens, hundreds and even thousands of workers at a time. Equidem’s research uncovered serious situations of racial discrimination and labour exploitation. But the most common violations faced by migrant workers are centered around the payment of wages and other benefits.
As the international labour system recognizes, these issues are best resolved through a tripartite process that includes worker representation through trade unions. Moreover, trade union bodies are already active in one shape or form in many of the Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
A path to citizenship through naturalisation is also critical to ensuring that the women and men who toil in arduous and often back-breaking low-wage jobs are fully recognized as members of wider Gulf societies. Naturalisation would not only enable the state to codify and implement rights protections into law and practice more effectively.
As Gulf authorities recognize the need to shift their economies away from a dependence on the oil and gas industries, naturalisation would help grow and diversify the labour market along with the economy. Most importantly, only naturalisation can address the wide gap between the rights and protections afforded to non-nationals and nationals. States must respect their human rights
obligations to all women, men and children regardless of their nationality or circumstances.
But a path to citizenship would reflect the de facto reality: that for thousands of migrant women, men and children who have lived there for years if not decades, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates is their home.
It is Equidem’s assessment that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar do have the capacity, resources, and skill to take immediate and long-term steps to ensure respect for the human rights of migrant workers.
What is lacking is the political and social will. But the current situation is unethical, unsustainable, and constitutes a serious breach of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar’s obligations under international human rights and labour rights conventions and standards. In the absence of urgent reforms, businesses will be operating in an environment where racial discrimination and modern slavery are ever present across virtually all sectors and industries.
With governments and business gathering for the G20 Summit in Saudi Arabia this week, there is a unique opportunity to reset the clock on rights protections for migrant workers in the Gulf. Though the challenge is immense some simple measures could have a significant positive impact: ensure financial support is extended to everyone including migrant workers without discrimination, enforce existing labour protections, develop a process for workers to have collective representation as a first step towards making union participation legal, establish a fund to indemnify worker wages and benefits during periods of economic shock and downturn. COVID-19 may have started as a crisis, but it need not end that way.
T +44 (0) 779 460 8723 E info@equidem.org 71-75 Shelton Street London WC2H 9JQ United Kingdom