Open doors but different laws

High pay, few rights

MUHAMMAD DEV arrived in Bahrain three months ago from India, leaving behind his wife and baby. He misses his family, and calls them daily. But driving a taxi along Bahrain’s humid highways, he earns more than double what he did back home. “That’s why I’m staying here and they are happy,” he says.

News about migrant labourers in the Gulf states usually focuses on abuses. A recent case involves thousands of Pakistani and Indian construction workers who have been stranded in Saudi Arabia after a cash-strapped employer stopped paying them but refused to let them leave the country. Many are owed months of back pay. The Saudi government has promised to give them plane tickets home, and insists that this is a one-off. It is not.

Under the kafala (sponsorship) system used in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (collectively, the Gulf Co-operation Council or GCC), migrant workers are tied to their employers. They may not switch jobs or, in some cases, leave the country without their employer’s permission. Many have their passports...Continue reading

Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2c1EE5v

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