MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS (MDW)
1. Context
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest recipients of migrant domestic workers (MDWs), will roll out a new domestic workers law in September. The six GCC states (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain) employ close to 5.5 million migrant domestic workers, and all of them exclude MDWs from labour laws, with only four having passed specific domestic worker laws
2. Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia
- As of the first quarter of 2024, Saudi Arabia had 3,913,925 migrant domestic workers, comprising 2,732,344 men and 1,181,581 women, representing 25% of the total workforce.
- These workers are not covered by labor laws, leaving significant gaps in their protection, as they are not subject to monitoring systems like labor inspections, complaint mechanisms, or the Wages Protection System.
- The situation is worsened by the systemic marginalization of migrant workers under the Kafala system, which ties visas to employers, leaving lower-income migrants heavily dependent on their sponsors. Essentially, the state has delegated control of immigration to individual citizens.
- The existing and forthcoming laws regarding migrant domestic workers do not adequately address these protection gaps. Female domestic workers, in particular, often suffer severe abuse from employers and face further mistreatment when seeking help.
- Saudi Arabia's regulations have failed to address these issues, and the broader justice system remains largely indifferent to the challenges faced by migrant domestic workers.
- Furthermore, Saudi Arabia still lacks a minimum wage, and mandatory referral wages are only applicable when stipulated in bilateral agreements with the workers' countries of origin.
- As a result, migrant domestic workers are often underpaid, with no clear provisions for calculating overtime, despite frequently being overworked
3. Migrant domestic workers
- Migrant domestic workers are individuals who move from their home country to another country to work in households, providing services such as cleaning, cooking, childcare, elderly care, and other domestic tasks. These workers often migrate in search of better economic opportunities and may live in their employer's home.
- Migrant domestic workers typically face unique challenges, including isolation, lack of legal protections, and vulnerability to exploitation and abuse. In many countries, they are not covered by standard labour laws, making them more susceptible to poor working conditions, low wages, and long working hours without proper compensation.
- Their status as migrants can further complicate their situation, as they may be dependent on their employers for their legal status and livelihood, leading to a power imbalance that can be exploited
- Migrant domestic workers are hired by individuals to provide services within their households. The exclusion from labor laws, combined with the strict control imposed by the Kafala system, gives employers significant power over these workers
- In Saudi Arabia, there are 14 recognized categories of domestic work, some of which have been recently added and extend beyond traditional household duties to include roles that require specialized skills
- According to official data, over 2 million workers are classified under "servants and house cleaners," a category largely comprising domestic workers, with nearly 60% being women.
- The second most common category is drivers, totaling 1,817,120 workers, almost all of whom are men. Saudi Arabia is unique among GCC states in that male domestic workers make up the majority of the sector, accounting for nearly 70%
4. Kafala System
- The Kafala system is a sponsorship system used in several countries in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, to regulate the employment and residency of migrant workers. Under this system, a migrant worker's legal status is tied to their employer, who acts as their sponsor (or "kafeel"). The sponsor is responsible for the worker's visa and legal status, and the worker cannot leave the country, switch jobs, or terminate their employment contract without the sponsor's permission.
- The Kafala system has been widely criticized for creating a power imbalance between employers and workers. Because workers' residency and ability to work are dependent on their sponsor, they can be vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and poor working conditions. Employers may withhold workers' passports, delay or withhold wages, or subject workers to long hours and harsh conditions, knowing that the workers have limited options to seek help or leave the situation.
- Efforts to reform or abolish the Kafala system have been made in some countries, with varying degrees of success. Critics argue that the system is inherently exploitative and contributes to the mistreatment of migrant workers, particularly those in low-wage jobs such as domestic work, construction, and agriculture
- GCC citizens, who generally enjoy a high level of wealth, can afford modern consumer goods designed to reduce the domestic workload traditionally handled by women. However, in many patriarchal societies, these tools have not led to the expected reduction in women's domestic labor, even when women participate in the labor market.
- The demand for unpaid services remains high in large, extended families living together, where women were once expected to perform these tasks.
- As wealth has increased, and domestic work is perceived as menial, these responsibilities have been shifted to paid migrant domestic workers (MDWs). However, the value placed on their work—and by extension, on the workers themselves—remains low.
- Many of the systems and institutions established by Saudi Arabia to manage this sector, such as the Musaned platform for domestic worker recruitment, tend to favor employers.
- This results in a situation where the combination of the Kafala system and the exclusion of MDWs from labor laws creates conditions akin to bonded labor.
- The state has made it easy to recruit and employ migrant workers, leading to severe exploitation with little accountability.
- Employers, who often pay between $2,000 and $5,000 in recruitment fees per worker (excluding wages), may feel as though they have "purchased" the worker, rather than paying for a service
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New MDW law
Key aspects of the new law include a daily maximum of 10 working hours, the right to a weekly day off, and a prohibition on the confiscation of identity documents. The law also emphasizes workers' rights to communication and allows them to terminate their contracts under certain conditions without losing their entitlements. Additionally, it provides for compensation in cases of unjust termination, grants workers one month of paid leave each year, and requires employers to cover the cost of an annual ticket home.
Saudi Arabia has also introduced mandatory insurance for all new migrant domestic worker (MDW) contracts to protect both workers and employers, with the cost included in recruitment fees. In a significant development, the kingdom began including all new MDWs in its Wages Protection System (WPS) from July, with plans to gradually extend coverage to all existing MDWs by the end of 2025
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5. Concerns regarding MDW
- Saudi Arabia has a poor track record in enforcing laws, particularly regarding the protection of migrant workers' rights. Issues like wage theft and labor exploitation are widespread, but employers are seldom held accountable.
- For migrant domestic workers (MDWs), especially women, leaving their employer's household without permission can result in being reported as absconding (huroob), which carries significant risks.
- Although reforms to the absconding system have made it harder to file false charges and provide workers with more time to contest wrongful accusations, the law can still be misused by abusive employers.
- The lack of labour inspections, restricted communication access, and language barriers hinder the state’s ability to evaluate the effectiveness of reforms and make it challenging for workers to report violations
6. Indian laws of MDW
While Saudi Arabia has made some strides in improving the conditions for migrant domestic workers, significant challenges remain, particularly in the areas of enforcement and protection of workers' rights. The introduction of new laws, mandatory insurance, and inclusion in the Wages Protection System are positive steps, but the effectiveness of these reforms is hindered by the lack of consistent implementation and systemic issues like the Kafala system. For Indian workers, who make up the largest migrant population in the kingdom, the eMigrate system and specific provisions offer some level of protection, but the limited consular support and difficulties in accessing justice highlight ongoing vulnerabilities. Addressing these issues requires not only robust enforcement mechanisms but also a concerted effort to ensure that workers' rights are respected and upheld throughout their employment in Saudi Arabia
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For Prelims: Migrant Workers, Kafala System
For Mains: GS III - Indian Economy, Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW)
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Source: The Hindu
