Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia has embarked on an ambitious modernization and urbanization project led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. With large-scale infrastructure projects driving logistical and technological advancement, the ‘Vision 2030’ project aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil dependent economy and bolster its international standing. However, achieving the project’s lofty goals by the end of the decade hinges on a large labour force, most of which is sourced from abroad and at a low cost through the controversial kafala system. 

Accounting for 75 per cent of the nation’s total labour force, foreign labourers enter Saudi Arabia through a system of sponsorship – the kafala system –, which ties foreign workers to private employers in exchange for jobs. However, activists have described the kafala system as one of ‘modern slavery’, citing widespread human rights violations faced by workers. Despite international pressure for labour reform, the Saudi government has done little to hold employers accountable and protect the rights of its foreign workforce. 

The Kafala System

The kafala system, established during the oil boom of the 1950s, issues sponsorship permits to local individuals, entities, and private employers to recruit foreign workers.  Designed to meet the Gulf countries’ labour demands, this system has facilitated the employment of millions of migrant workers, particularly in sectors like construction, domestic work, and agriculture. Saudi Arabia’s foreign labour force is largely made up of populations from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Yemen, who provide large supplies of low-cost labour. 

Initially, the kafala system was made to usher in foreign workers who did not understand the local language or culture to be under the complete care of their sponsor. The sponsor was expected to provide logistical support, file for visas and arrange entry and exit, as well as food and shelter in exchange for employment and low wages. However, the power given to employers over these foreign employees creates a severe power imbalance that has allowed private parties to neglect the well-being of their employees, leaving them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

The native countries of these workers have little to no control over the labour rights of their citizens in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the kafala system effectively transmits complete power from the state to private individuals or firms. Even if they are fleeing abuse, foreign workers are threatened by laws that prevent them from leaving the workplace without the employer’s permission, which can lead to charges of absconding (escaping) that come with the risk of prison sentences and deportation. 

Human Rights Controversy

Saudi Arabia has been listed among the 10 worst countries in the world for workers in the 2019 Global Rights Index. Statistics from 2022 identified more than a thousand cases of forced labour, many of which included trafficking of workers, forced begging, and ‘slavery-like practices’. On top of that, employers often end up abusing vulnerable workers who are not protected by Saudi Arabian labour laws. As such, millions of workers are often left unpaid, with employers confiscating their passports, and refusing to provide food and shelter.

Approximately three million Bangladeshi workers are currently employed in Saudi Arabia. The Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) outlines the inhumane conditions workers are forced into. In 2024 alone, BRAC denounced that 48 bodies of female workers were brought back from Saudi Arabia. Reports from Madagascar have echoed the abysmal work conditions their populations face in Saudi Arabia. Instances of abuse including physical violence and exploitative working conditions have been widely reported by Malagasy workers returning home. Madagascar, among other labour-exporting countries such as Ethiopia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, has imposed a temporary ban on labour migration to Saudi Arabia in response to the systemic mistreatment of their citizens abroad. 

Possibilities for Reform

Saudi Arabia has taken some steps toward labour reform, including the 2014 ratification of an International Labour Organization’s (LIO) convention on wage protection. However, the convention still allows the government to exclude workers working irregular hours or under circumstances that make the application of the convention impractical. In fact, wage theft is still endemic to the kafala system. This was highlighted by the global trade union Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), which filed a forced labour complaint against the Saudi Arabian government in June of 2024, accusing Saudi employers of widespread exploitation and wage theft.

As Saudi Arabia introduced the Labour Reform Initiative (LRI) in 2020, aiming to facilitate job mobility and regulate exit and entry visas for private sector expatriates, this step in the right direction demonstrates Saudi Arabia’s effort to align with international labour standards, but significant gaps remain. The LRI reforms do not fully dismantle the exploitative kafala system and exclude vulnerable groups like domestic workers and farmers. Since these labour reforms only extend coverage to workers in large companies and establishments, the majority of the foreign workforce remains unprotected. 

As Saudi Arabia seeks to etch itself into the international system as a leader and innovator, its legitimacy remains contingent upon addressing labour malpractices that perpetuate human rights violations. While Vision 2030 remains foreseeable and achievable, it will require a renewed labour system that ensures the protection and mobility of foreign workers. This is crucial to sustain the supply of foreign labour, but also to reduce the widespread exploitation of foreign workers already within the country’s borders. 

Edited by Jane Malek

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Science or the Political Science Students’ Association.

Featured image by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor