Verbal or physical assault of workers occurred in 18 cases, with workers facing threats from employers to continue working despite the lack of wages or to accept new contracts or be fired. Cramped accommodation and the impossibility of social distancing were cited in 10 cases, reflecting the fears of civil society and workers’ rights organisations that social distancing measures have been impossible for workers to implement. They developed systems to ensure domestic workers’ regular and timely pay. [3]Within this context, the everyday governance of migrants working in the private sector became the responsibility of their kafeel — citizens who sponsored, employed, and acted as guarantors for migrant workers.
During the COVID-19 crisis we have seen a 275% increase in allegations of abuse. For example, Nepali women traveled via India, and Indian women traveled via Sri Lanka.
Workers reported they had paid recruitment fees in 11% cases, with workers in 20% cases burdened by growing debts. Led by the Al Sabah family, the country’s ruling elite, state formation in Kuwait was focused on two interrelated objectives: the control and distribution of the country’s oil revenues through the development of state welfare institutions, and the production and consolidation of Kuwait’s national body through the activities of these rentier state institutions. Initially conceiving of themselves as market intermediaries, these agencies increasingly (and in many cases reluctantly) started to take on state-like functions. Since mid-March, more than 30,000 Ethiopian workers have re-entered the country, according to the government.
From the mid-1970s to the late 2000s, Kuwait’s migrant domestic worker population grew from 12,000 to 500,000, and the percentage of Kuwaiti households employing domestic workers increased from 13% to 90%.
247-69. [4]. Credit: Chito Neri. They often begin with the story of an impoverished woman from the global South, who, in order to improve the situation of her family, migrates to the oil-rich Gulf states in search of work and a more prosperous future.
Companies in Mexico putting profits ahead of worker health & safety during pandemic, Economies of care or abuse? This essay, which is based on over two years of research in Kuwait and South Asia, focuses on the changes in how states have sought to govern migrant domestic workers — a realm often elided in these accounts. Labor agencies had to register with Labor and Foreign Affairs Ministries within labor-sending states, and had to receive permission from these institutions before seeking to recruit women from these countries. Celebrating their first day in a relaunched migrant worker office, now co-staffed by migrant worker volunteers, in KTUF headquarters, Kuwait City, Kuwait, on Monday, March 18, 2019: (Left to right) Abdulrahman al Turki, Solidarity Center consultant; Ganesh Rawat, president, GEFONT-Kuwait; Mary Ann Abunda, head volunteer, Sandigan-Kuwait. COVID-19 makes Gulf countries’ abuse of migrant workers impossible to ignore. Communications Director Middle East Institute “Nepali laborers abroad have been facing constant suffering, while legal and social rights are not implemented,” says GEFONT Support Group-Kuwait President Ganesh Rawat. The treatment of migrant domestic workers is one of the defining stories told about the Arab Gulf states. The kafala system, a type of visa sponsorship system, is used in the UAE and contributes to the abuse against migrant workers. Few did so, however, due to language barriers, and to the widespread perception that the courts were favorably disposed towards Kuwaiti citizens, or were unable to properly address the types of contracts disputes domestic workers had. A gendered understanding of “labor” underpins these laws, one in which work undertaken within the household, the work of social reproduction, is not considered “labor.”. [7]. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Although the number of reports soared during these months, we’ve continued to see instances of workers intimidated, imprisoned or physically assaulted as a consequence of or deterrent to speaking out against their employers. Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at Work, financial incentive for maintaining the status quo, Solidarity Center supports Kuwaiti unions’. They could file criminal charges in situations of physical or sexual abuse, and file civil legal cases related to contract disputes.
Labor agencies also became the intermediaries through which labor-sending states began overseeing and regulating the situation of their migrant domestic worker population in the Gulf. Explore the big challenges, opportunities, debates and frameworks for business and human rights.
More often than not, when disputes or conflicts arose, domestic workers would seek informal assistance from friends and family members (should they have any in Kuwait), or formal assistance from embassies, officials, or representatives from labor recruitment agencies. In this essay, I have discussed briefly issues elided and presupposed by these reports; namely, the difficulty state legal systems have had in recognizing domestic work as “labor” due to gendered understandings of the term, the problems state legal systems have had in adjudicating this realm of work, and the willingness — and capacity — of states to reform the kefalah system and improve the everyday experiences of migrant domestic workers. Labor agencies acquired these permits only by passing the evaluations conducted on an ongoing basis by embassy officials overseas. During the COVID-19 crisis we have seen a 275% increase in allegations of abuse.
Migrant workers globally are recognized as especially vulnerable to COVID-19; they often lack adequate access to public health information, medical care or the financial aid given to citizens. The project can be “the avenue on helping each other for the betterment of everyone,” says Sandigan-Kuwait, volunteer organizer, Chito Neri. Jill Crystal, Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990); and Jill Crystal, Kuwait: The Transformation of an Oil State (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992).
“The migrant workers’ office opens its doors to all representatives of migrant worker communities, in all categories, to receive complaints,” says KTUF Assistant Secretary General Obeid Menahi Al Ajmi. The treatment of domestic and migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is deeply troubling as there appears to be an intrinsic crossover between the UAE’s desired economic superiority and the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of workers.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Once in Kuwait, these migrant women could no longer, or could not easily, seek the assistance of their home country embassies. [1], Kuwaiti state institutions were initially unable — and unwilling — to manage this burgeoning population.
It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Their activities, in turn, point to the important role played by state-like institutions in not only knitting together global processes, but in mediating and facilitating state institutions’ ability to expand their governance of their transnational citizens in a global context. The federation, he continues, will devote all its resources and tools to support migrant workers, in coordination with the country’s domestic worker department. Changes to employment conditions may be rejected by private employers, who have a financial incentive for maintaining the status quo. 20-22.
2 (2002), pp. tanukiphoto, Getty Images Signature via Canva. This figure was one widely used and circulated by embassy officials, human rights activists, labor agencies, ministry officials, police officers, lawyers, and others involved in Kuwait’s domestic work sector.
The Solidarity Center supports Kuwaiti unions’ active role in cross-regional collaborations, as well as capacity building programs for Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF) affiliates in the civil service and oil sectors. The Gulf has historically proven a challenging region to use our company response mechanism owing to restrictions on reporting and a lack of transparency regarding company ownership and involvement. The narratives of these accounts are remarkably consistent. Alongside its core work providing a platform for Human Rights advocates, the Resource Centre runs several focused programme areas and regularly releases briefings and reports on areas of particular interest. In one case, workers in Kuwait whose employer cut off electricity and water from their accommodation protested outside the local police station until electricity was restored by the authorities. Wave after wave of these women migrated to the Gulf due to the worsening economic situation of their home countries, a situation that had developed because of their countries’ spiraling trade deficits and foreign debts brought about by oil price hikes. Ethiopian workers. 1763 N St. NW, Washington D.C. 20036. Fewer Kuwaiti women, however, were willing or found it necessary to undertake paid domestic work. Kuwait has been recognized for some important progress on migrant worker issues. We'll presume you're OK with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.
[6]. The rate at which we have tracked abuse against migrants in the Gulf has seen a huge spike. In four cases, workers reported being physically locked into accommodation by employers or recruitment agencies, paradoxically as both punishment and protection against COVID-19. Flush with petrodollars, Kuwaitis increasingly began hiring women to cook and clean, as well as care for their children and the elderly.
In discussing these matters, this essay also has underscored the significant role played by labor recruitment agencies in the formation of Kuwait’s domestic work sector.
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