UPDATES TO KAFALA
The definitive place to get the latest updates on Kafala.
December 13, 2021 | English
A year before the World Cup in Qatar, Amnesty International Tuesday urged the energy-rich emirate to end abuses against migrant workers, many of whom built the tournament's infrastructure.
"The daily reality for many migrant workers in the country remains harsh, despite legal changes introduced since 2017," the London-based human rights group said.
November 19, 2021 | English
Lewis Hamilton believes sportspeople are duty bound to speak out on human rights matters in the countries they visit. With Qatar hosting its first Formula One Grand Prix this weekend and facing new allegations of worker exploitation and abuse in its preparations for next year’s football World Cup, Hamilton insisted he would hold the sport to account for the places it chooses to race.
November 19, 2021 | English
Qatar Inappropriately Investigating Workplace Deaths, ILO Says Ahead Of 2022 World Cup Erling Haaland and Norwegian players protested against Qatar 2022 1:05 (CNN) - At least 50 of the workers in the Qatar World Cup sites died in 2020 and the International Labor Organization (ILO) assured that there are gaps in the collection of data by the country's institutions, so that the ILO will present a categorical figure on the number of fatal occupational injuries.
November 18, 2021 | English
Syrians are being detained in Saudi Arabia for failing to renew their residency permits, or for "absconding" from their sponsors linked to Saudi Arabia's notorious kafala system.
November 16, 2021 | English
Arab Saudi pada Senin (15/3) mengamandemen sistem kafala yang diberlakukan di negaranya. Amandemen ini akan memungkinkan para pekerja asing untuk dapat berganti pekerjaan tanpa perlu menunggu izin dari majikan.
November 16, 2021 | English
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that, as of 2015, there were around 3.16 million domestic workers employed across the Arab states. This is largely due to the deficits in social care for the young, sick, and elderly across the region, leading to changes in household structures. This has also contributed to the increased recruitment of domestic workers from developing countries to work in households as nannies, cooks, and maids. Families in the Gulf states are willing to pay relatively more than what many of these domestic employees could earn in their home countries, which, in the case of Kenya, explains why 57,000 to 100,000 people travel to the Middle East for work every year. The Kenyan government will often train women to become domestic workers in the Gulf states through education about cultural differences and customs to help improve their employability.
November 16, 2021 | English
Lebanon is still under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, both of which have raised the pressures experienced by the country's population and put many people under the poverty line.
The Lebanese were not solely affected by this crisis, but migrant workers of various nationalities were affected as well.
Before the current crisis, Lebanon was a rich destination for domestic workers. However, that is no longer the case. The economic crisis affected the maintenance of Lebanon as a destination for these workers, while inhumane and unfair practices in some cases were still part of the plight of domestic workers.
November 11, 2021 | English
Are you confused about what the Kafala sponsorship system is and how it impacts so many people? Do you want to listen in on a discussion about race and racism in Lebanon? Our host Lama is joined by the incredible Farah Baba - the Communications & Advocacy Officer at the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM).
November 9, 2021 | English
Lebanon has had a turbulent year, to say the least. Amidst a global catastrophe, it faced its own economic crisis, revolution, and explosion, and continues to be ensnared by its woes. However, one of its long-standing sins existed long before the people took to Martyr’s Square or the Port was engulfed in flames: its treatment of migrant workers. The country is extremely reliant on migrant domestic workers, primarily from countries in Southeast Asia and Africa (e.g., The Philippines, Ethiopia), and majority of whom are women. In 2008, Human Rights Watch reported that a migrant domestic worker in Lebanon dies every week. At the time of writing, almost 700 would have died since then, assuming that this average rate stayed the same. But it has not. In 2017, statistics showed that the death rate doubled to over two per week. This horrendous status quo has only gotten worse. The country’s economic crisis, explosion, and near-societal collapse have exacerbated the pre-existing, deeply-rooted problem, and there is little hope on the horizon. While it may be too late to save the 700-plus victims who have lost their lives thus far, this is an attempt to shed light on the system that took their lives, and what can be done to change it.
November 7, 2021 | English
On the 4th August 2020, two explosions in the Lebanese capital claimed 137 lives, injured over 5,000 people and displaced thousands more. As Beirut reeled from the shock, stories emerged — reported by Al Jazeera and others — of the disaster’s impact on one of the city’s most vulnerable communities: migrant workers from African countries trapped by the exploitative ‘kafala’ system.
