Understanding the Kafala Migrant Labor System in Qatar and the Middle East at Large With ILO Senior Migration Specialist Ryszard Cholewinski
As the eyes of the globe shifted towards Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, media reports focused on the working conditions and deaths of migrant workers building Qatar’s infrastructure and in the Middle East at large. Indeed, throughout Jordan, Lebanon, and all the Gulf Arab states, a system for migrant labor called kafala has been in place for decades. Under this system, states give employers sponsorship permits to bring in foreign workers, which bind workers to their employers and allow for exploitation. To explore the persistence of the kafala problem and analyze the possible avenues for lasting reform, GJIA sits down with Ryszard Cholewinski, the Senior Migration Specialist in the International Labor Organization’s Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut.
GJIA: As a general trend, what are the most pressing challenges facing migrant workers under kafala? Beyond the much-reported death tolls, how has this system of employment burdened the health and well-being of migrant workers in the Middle East?
RC: Regarding the kafala sponsorship system, I think it’s important to say at the outset, that sponsorship systems are not unusual. Temporary labor migration programs also exist in other parts of the world, where essentially the worker is tied to one employer or one sector of employment. And that by definition can be exploitative, because of the vulnerable situation that low-wage and low-skilled workers find themselves in. Particularly if these workers come from poorer developing countries where they’ve paid fees for recruiters to find work for them, they can end up in situations of debt bondage or forced labor because they have to pay back the debts. And, as it’s difficult for them to change employment in the country, this puts them in a vulnerable situation, because if they leave their jobs, they either fall into irregular status or are deported.