The absolutist monarchy of Saudi Arabia has been stubborn
about accepting the advice of human rights organizations for long time. Year after year the terrible conditions of
human rights have persisted to be among the worst of our planet. The violation of
rights of women and foreign workers characterizes the country. Saudi Arabia is
the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. To this
extent Saudi is far off from rights issues. Such oppression cannot continue on
in this way for obvious reasons. As we have learned from human development
there will be change sooner or later. The Arab spring will most likely pass
through Saudi Arabia and respect for human rights might then be able to be
heard from that region.
A country rich from oil, Saudi Arabia, has a high demand
for foreign workers especially those from poor countries. The main system that Saudi employees to invite
workers to its land is known as the “Kafala” system. In fact, the same system
is employed not only in Saudi Arabia but throughout the majority of Persian
Gulf countries or the so called (GCC- Gulf Countries Council).
The Kafala system takes away workers rights and puts them
in the hands of their sponsor. A person going to work in Saudi Arabian
or other Persian Gulf countries through the Kafala system has no right to alter
his workplace. He also has no right to leave the country without the permission
of the sponsor. The Kafala visa system is more appropriately named the Twenty-first
Century Persian Gulf Countries Enslavement System.
As many victims have witnessed, sponsors take possession
of passports and other important documents upon their arrival to Saudi Arabia.
The fate of such foreign workers falls to their sponsors. When sponsors abuse
the rights of these foreign workers, some workers try to escape and have lost
their lives in the process. Tragically,
many domestic workers in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia have been known to jump from high-rise
buildings trying to escape from their sponsors. Millions of immigrant
workers in Saudi Arabia do not have a system that provides them with security
or gives them confidence in institutions. Foreign workers who do escape then become undocumented. Is
it fair to label these people as illegal? Even
if they want to go back home since their sponsor has to provide them with an
exit visa and in fear of arrest they are forced to live a life of fear with no
immediate escape in sight. Who is the real
criminal in this situation? Those people who are labeled “illegal “are
not but instead the system that has exposed them to such circumstances has violated
the international law through exploitation and abuse.
GCC countries know that the Kafala sponsorship program is
an illegal system as when they ratified the Universal Human Rights Declaration. Article
13 of the universal human right declaration states that,
1
“Everyone
has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.”
2
“Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and
return to his country”.
The Kafala system at minimum violates Article 13 so,
those countries who employee this system including countries that sell their
citizens under the Kafala sponsorship system clearly violate this international
law. This system also violates their constitutional laws at the same time. What
is more, Sharia law promises pay before your sweat dries. Still a number
of domestic workers of Ethiopian decent living in Saudi Arabia are yet to be paid
their promised salaries.
We might ask why GCC countries employ this system while
they know that it is illegal under international labor law. It seems that the Gulf
Countries Council has employed this calculating system for economic exploitation
of foreign workers. Under this insecure system cheap labor is imported and then
used for advantage at the overall expense of workers. According to sources
there are about 15 million immigrant workers in the GCC and most of them are in
Saudi Arabia.
In countries where
millions of workers are foriegners we can easily see how the Kafala sponsorship
system exposes them to massive human right violations. Since the focus of these
countries is economic gain by manuplating a foreign worker force the
responsibility to protect these workers falls to the employers. One sponsor may
have a number of workers under him and their fate is determined by his skill,
relative good will and ability to control and manage. Further, in countries where the culture of democracy
is not well developed the problems with this kind of sponsorship grow worse and
worse by manipulation of greedy employers.
There is also another illegal visa system which Saudi
Arabia uses to exploit foreign workers. The name of this illegal visa is called
“Free Visa”. This kind of visa allows the foreign worker to find his own job
with only a nominal sponsor. This kind of visa allows Saudi Arabians to bring
foreign workers from abroad in the name of businesses organization that do not exist. People who were brought to
Saudi Arabia in this visa system have to pay a lot of money every month for
their sponsor who controls their visa permits.
In recent years Indonesia and the Philippines have
attempted to negotiate labor agreements concerning the minimum wage and other human
right issues of their citizens. However, because of the resistance of the Saudi
Arabian government these two countries have prohibited their citizens from
entering into employment agreements with Saudi Arabian employers. It appears that
the Saudi government which has set out to gather an unprotected cheap labor
force has found just that in Ethiopia, a country with a government that is not
concerned with protecting its citizens. The Ethiopian government has sold its
citizen into the Kafala system to benefit from the remittances of foreign
currency by migrant workers. The Ethiopian government does not worry for the
livelihood of its citizens instead it only concerns itself with the revenues and
guarantees of revenue they build. Sources reveal that the Ethiopian government
agreed to regularly recruit 45,000 women to fill the need for cheap labor in
Saudi Arabia. Would a competent government who boasts growth sell its own
citizens into unsafe working agreements? No, the reality is that this is the
manifestation of huge internal problems.
Although there has always been a problem in this region
the recent crackdown and abuse in Saudi Arabia especially against Ethiopians has
angered Ethiopians all over the world. Those
who were exploited, abused or undocumented are now again being attacked by
government security officers and police. This action is unfair and a crime.
Ethiopians will seek justice from the international justice bodies.
After unregulated exploitation of foreign workers Saudi
Arabia is in a state of heightened crackdown to deport Ethiopian migrant
workers. Due to the nationwide crackdown brutal attacks have been committed against
unprotected workers by security forces and the police. This action has caused
an outcry of Ethiopians around the world angered by the inhumane practices of the
Saudi Arabian government on the one hand and the uncaring attitudes of the
Ethiopian government on the other. Both buyers and sellers of labor under the
Kafala system are to be held accountable for the current humanitarian
crises.
Ethiopians, we have never before been so embarrassed by such
failures of our government. Let all political parties and civic organizations stand
together to help protect our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia and to renew our
struggle to overthrow the current failed Ethiopian government which is at the
root of our problems.
God Bless
Ethiopia
