Saudi Arabia’s move to abolish the decades-old Kafala system comes as a relief for millions of migrant workers. This decision is set to particularly help more than one crore migrant workers, including 26 lakh Indians, in the Kingdom.
Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are cheering the long-awaited decision, which is expected to bring significant changes to the existing sponsorship model. The reform grants workers greater job mobility and freedom to travel or leave the country without the employer’s approval.
What Is The Kafala System?
The 50-year-old system has been labelled as “modern-day slavery” by its critics. It is a sponsorship-based employment framework that governs the relationship between migrant workers and their employers in several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Under this system, a worker’s legal status was tied to their employer, known as the kafeel. As a result, the employer controlled crucial aspects of the worker’s life such as job changes, travel and residency.
Migrants could not leave or switch employers without the sponsor’s permission. While it was originally designed to manage foreign labour, the system became notorious for enabling exploitation and abuse. Many raised concerns that it often restricted workers’ freedom and subjected them to harsh, unfair working conditions.
According to critics, this system created a sense of ownership of migrant workers by some employers. The system had come under the spotlight ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where thousands of South Asian migrant workers reportedly died while working under harsh and unsafe conditions.
Why Was It Abolished?
Earlier in November 2020, Saudi authorities first announced their plans to abolish the Kafala System and replace it with a new contractual model aimed at improving worker mobility and independence. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/03/14/Saudi-Arabia-s-labor-reforms-to-kafala-sponsorship-system-comes-into-effect-Sunday
The reforms aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program, which focus on labour reforms and economic diversification, according to the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development’s website.
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