By Manaal Khwaja

Last year in April, a Kuwaiti woman recorded her Ethiopian maid clinging onto a window, then falling from the seventh floor while the maid called for help. This video gained a large amount of attention globally and in Kuwait. The maid fortunately only suffered a minimal amount of injuries, and the employer was jailed, but these actions are representative of a larger social ill plaguing the Gulf states and the greater Middle East. Migrant workers are systematically and socially dehumanized. Obviously, this employer’s inhumane actions do not categorize all Kuwaitis or the Middle East. There was an enormous amount of social media backlash from the region, and the Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights called for an official investigation of the incident. However, the employer’s actions in the video display how extreme dehumanization can be, and how dangerous it is. Even with public condemnation, the mistreatment of migrant workers continues in the region, and it is permitted legally through the kafala system.

The kafala system is a sponsorship program through which unskilled workers can enter the country if they have a sponsor, which is usually the employer. Through that relationship, the worker earns a visa and legal status. However, these sponsorship relationships often lead to exploitation. It is not uncommon for employers to take away their employee’s passport (not allowing them to leave), pay them unlivable wages, and force inhumane conditions upon them (long work days, inadequate housing, physical abuse, and general mistreatment). Such exploitation has become a backbone of economic structures in the region.

This legal system allows for the exploitation of migrants, mainly from South and Southeast Asia as well as parts of Africa. 23 million workers are affected in the countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Although each country has its own specific regulations dictating the implementation of the system, the overarching purpose is to monitor migrant laborers who work primarily in the construction and domestic sectors. This system has been criticized as being modern slavery, and in many aspects it is.

The kafala system is not an overtly discriminatory system since workers are promised a contract that binds both the employer and employee. In practice, however, the contract is rarely followed by employers, nor does it have to include agreements that benefit the employee. Migrant workers don’t receive much judicial protection either, and there are no laws discouraging employers from mistreating workers. In fact, certain countries’ labor laws, such as Qatar and Lebanon, specifically exempt migrant workers from protection under the law against wage inequality, discrimination, and from paternal leave. Consequently, the migrant is bound to the kafel (sponsor), depending on them for full economic and social status.

This system further establishes a racial hierarchy and order through the continuation of colonial systems and values. Certain ethnicities (such as South and Southeast Asians and Africans) associated with migrant work are viewed as inferior. Migrant workers are considered to be at the bottom of society due to racist and classist beliefs that were exacerbated by colonialism. Such beliefs permit the continuation of the kafala system and ensure that progressive movements to change the system are hindered by social prejudices.

There has been increased discourse and pressure to alter this system, especially in the wealthier nations that currently use it. Right now, Qatar has promised to abolish the system by 2020, in time for the World Cup. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait have all also stated they aim to end this system. However, there is little evidence that reforms are underway, and what alterations have been made still permit abuse.

It is not possible for the kafala system to fully be abolished until social attitudes within these nations change. Currently, these states depend upon and have developed around low labor costs. As a result, completely recreating the economic system requires a large social component; one that recognizes human life as valuable and not just as a tool.