The Kafala system is a massive system of exploitation and human trafficking in the Middle East. It has tragic similarities with the indenture system of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

About 25 million migrant workers are estimated for work in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which is made up of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. Most of the laborers hail from South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. About a third of them are from the Indian subcontinent.

I traveled to three of the six GCC countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.

One must see the frenetic pace of the construction in most countries in the Middle east to believe it.

There is a never-ending stream of skyscrapers, stadiums, apartment buildings, malls, roads, and more being built. About 1.2 million immigrants labor in Qatar alone. With the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament being hosted in Doha in 2022, I shudder to think of the number of laborers who will be needed to complete the stadiums, hotels, and shopping centers for the event.

The Kafala and the indenture system during my great grandfather’s time are so eerily similar. The information asymmetry between workers and managers creates a huge power imbalance today just as it did a hundred years ago. Almost all the indenture coolies were illiterate and could barely understand the contracts written in English. In exactly the same way, the Kafala coolies, or makful, can’t make any sense of the complex agreements written in Arabic. Thus, the farm owner then and the kafeel (sponsor) today have an enormous influence over the laborers.

To get a firsthand view of the problem, please spend 5 mins on this survey

https://www.migrant-rights.org/infographics/migrant-difficult-decisions-in-the-gulf/

 The laborer cannot change any employer even if the current employer is abusive and working, living conditions are horrible. The only way to change an employer is to get the permission of the current employer!

WHAT? Why would any current employer give permission?

For the poor laborer, what other options exist? Maybe go to the embassy to file a complaint. But to go to the embassy, one must leave the work site, for which one needs a pass!

The pass system that existed during my great-grandfather’s time on the plantations is also still in place. It severely restricts the movement of the laborers and hence controls their lifestyles, activities, and in a sense their whole lives. The laborer needs the written permission of the employer to leave the farm or construction site for any reason.
To return home, the specter of the loans that one took to pay the agents, visa looms large which shackles the poor laborer to the drudgery. If at some point, they entertain the thought of just fleeing the employer, they sadly realize that the one document that is needed to leave the country is the passport, which they had handed over the moment they arrived.

The authorities are also overwhelmingly on the side of the employers. It is standard practice for a kafeel to collect the workers’ passports “for safekeeping” from the moment the makful arrive in the Gulf region. From then on, the laborer is at the mercy of the kafeel as they cannot leave the country without the passport. If, for any reason, they are arrested without a valid passport, their status will be declared illegal and thus they will be punished much more harshly.

To get a view of the two worlds set apart, Please watch this video : 

“In Dubai, it is hot most of the time. For eight months a year, the average temperature is more than 86 degrees Fahrenheit. In the four months of summer, when temperature crosses 104 degrees, it is hell on earth. Laborers get dizzy and some faint, but there is hardly any medical help for the laborers. Very little to no records are maintained regarding deaths of these laborers to avoid any kind of investigation. Unofficial estimates run into thousands of deaths each year.

The wages and rations are kept at the discretion of the employer, which leaves the laborer with no power for bargaining. Even after working much longer hours than is stipulated in the contracts, the workers are at the mercy of the kafeel to get paid on time and as agreed.

Living alone and away from one’s family for an extended period of time creates severe psychological stress, and it is worse when you do not know if and when you will see your family again. To me, this is the most inhuman part of the ordeal. Human trafficking tears up the family and thus the social fabric. How can communities heal after such damage?

The living conditions of the laborers has not changed much since my great grandfather’s days. The shacks in the sugarcane farms where eight to ten coolies would be crammed into a tin shed does not seem very different from the dingy quarters in the gulf region where often six to eight workers share a room. For weeks and months and years, the sole space that he would have is a part of the bunk bed.

Since the governments of many South Asian countries have sensitive strategic geopolitical and economic relationships with the oil-rich GCC countries, issues like the migrant labor conditions are often mentioned as a side note rather than a priority. After each leadership visit, a customary announcement is made on creating yet another task force to improve the living and working conditions of the migrant labor, but even those initiatives are soon forgotten.

From the sugarcane farms to the skyscrapers, the life of a coolie has not changed in history. The Kafala coolies labor in the desert sun knowing they will never be able to step foot in the glittering malls, airports, and stadiums that they are toiling to build. Something must be done about this. Can anyone lead a social transformation revolution on their own? Perhaps not. But I am sure we can all do whatever possible in our own little ways. The simplest way to help is to treat everyone with respect. If you meet a worker from a farm or a factory, a janitor in the office lobby, please smile. They are as much of a human being as you are. Teach your children the same values.

Please donate and volunteer for organizations like www.Migrant-Rights.org .

If you have connections in the government of any country, please share the information about the plight of migrant workers and make sure this issue is noted. Spread the information wherever possible. It is by collecting the ideas and voices of people across the spectrum that meaningful solutions can be found.