The Kafala System Part II: Sex Trafficking and the Abuse of Female Migrant Workers
This article is the second of a two-part series. You can read part one here.
For the millions of female migrant workers looking to leave their home countries in Africa and South Asia for better pay in the Middle East, the threat of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their employer, in addition to the usual risks of financial exploitation and inhumane working conditions, remain constant. Each of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, along with Jordan and Lebanon, use the Kafala, or “sponsorship” system of employment, allowing local individuals and companies to partner with recruitment agencies abroad in hiring foreign nationals.
Under the Kafala system, “passports are taken away from workers at the airport when they arrive and are given directly to the employment agency or employer along with other identification documents,” reported The Islamic Monthly, a US-based independent, nonreligious print and digital publication. “Employers say they are protecting the passports from loss, and thereby protecting the employee.” Although it is technically unlawful to withhold legal documents from their rightful owner, this illegality is systematically overlooked by local authorities who tend to view these workers and subsequent victims of human trafficking as nothing more than illegal immigrants.
In addition, workers often face significant financial and administrative barriers to reporting abuse or attempting to terminate their contracts, especially in the absence of proper identification. Given the lack of government involvement, oversight, and accountability measures within the Kafala system, workers are also left without the protection of labor laws. In preparation for the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup, the Kafala system has faced widespread criticism for its treatment of (predominantly male) workers in the region, and while those of other genders also face the risk of sexual abuse in such conditions, women remain the primary victims of this particular form of exploitation.
In recent years, the trafficking of female migrant workers from the West African country of Ghana has concerned its leaders. According to a 2018 report published by the Eban Center for Human Trafficking, “most of the women are undocumented, making them highly vulnerable to trafficking … [The] majority of sexually exploited undocumented victims of trafficking either apply for political asylum or get into the MENA [Middle East North Africa] region through fraudulent travel recruitment agents who promised them nonexistent jobs.” The report also cited a statistic from the UN’s International Organization for Migration, which found an “approximately 600% increase in the number of potential sex trafficking victims arriving from Africa to the Gulf States” in recent decades. Incidents of abuse had occurred mainly in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
In 2013, the International Labor Organization identified four major ways through which victims become involved in sex trafficking. Excepting voluntary participation for financial reasons, many are either abducted from their positions as domestic workers or tricked into working at what they are led to believe will be a nightclub or bar. Others arrive for the promise of an arranged marriage and a better life abroad, only to be forced into the sex trafficking industry. In the U.S. Department of State’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report, it was estimated that anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand workers are trafficked in the Middle East each year, surpassing the minimum requirement of 150 victims per country to be considered a severe case by the United States.
A 2016 BMC International Health and Human Rights study found that in times of conflict and severe duress — such as famine, civil war, and spikes in terrorism — the incidence rate of sexual abuse increases across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, particularly in the form of early or forced marriage. “Early marriage is associated with certain factors that are present before conflict, such as cultural practices, while others are generated or exacerbated by conflict, such as sudden and extreme poverty,” the paper notes. “Household representatives commented that early marriage [is] a means to cope with financial need by either receiving a payment for their daughter’s marriage or reducing the household’s expenses of having their daughter as a dependent.” BMC added that although there is some international debate over the definition of trafficking, “most experts agree that the fundamental feature that defines human trafficking is the act of ‘exploitation,’” usually in extreme forms such as slavery or forced labor.
Although limited action has been taken to reduce the rate of human trafficking by the various governments in the Middle East, only a few of such policies and programs exist. A 2005 survey published by the International Organization for Migration noted that in 2000, Israel created a parliamentary investigative committee on the trafficking of women. In 2001, Lebanon shut down ten recruitment agencies that had been violating labor laws. In the last twenty years Saudi Arabia has opened shelters for runaway domestic workers to reside in while their cases are investigated by authorities. However, The Eban Center noted that Syria is the only Arab state “that provides for the liability of purchasers, users, or clients…Anyone who has knowledge of the act of trafficking and benefits materially or morally from the services provided by [the] victim of trafficking shall be subjected to imprisonment from six months to two years in addition to a fine.” While this is a step in the right direction, the report notes that much of the relevant legislation in the region focuses on criminalization and not protection.
As a result, female migrant workers have been forced to consider the added possibility of sexual abuse when deciding to work in the Middle East. Beyond the worst case scenario of being sold into the trafficking industry, many women have experienced ill treatment within typical domestic service positions as well. In 2020, Amnesty International found that almost 86% of those they contacted in a sample size of 105 female domestic workers located in Qatar reported working over 14 hours a day, almost never with a day off. Many also noted instances of being “insulted, slapped, or spat at.”
The Eban Center included in its report that “because some Middle Eastern Laws and cultures do not recognize certain forms of human trafficking as being trafficking … some victims are often not protected in the Middle East.” Additionally, “Middle Eastern culture is sensitive to this issue, making researching and collection of information difficult.” The IOM survey also analyzed the availability of information on the subject, and concluded that “no comprehensive research exists on the specific topic of human trafficking occurring in the countries of the Middle East.”
In order to combat the risks of sexual violence against migrant workers in the MENA region, the governments of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other nations must decide to adequately address this issue. The U.S. Department of State currently ranks Iran and Saudi Arabia at Tier 3 and Tier 2 status on human trafficking, respectively, indicating that the issue is both common and poorly managed. Taking into account the financial barriers to targeting the trafficking industry, countries falling into these categories should perhaps be barred from certain international trade agreements, given the role of exploited migrant workers in sustaining their economies. If this subject is truly too taboo to be addressed by direct legislation, reforms within the Kafala system alone could have a sizeable impact on the incidence rate of sexual exploitation. Regardless, as powerful a role as religion and tradition play in the Middle East, it provides an inadequate excuse for such exploitation to remain unchecked. At the very least, for the sake of global reputation, regional authorities must play a more active role in reducing this crisis, rather than leaving the task to external and international organizations.
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