Several years ago, the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain decided to repeal the sponsorship system for expatriate workers and Qatar has recently enacted similar laws. Bahrain was the first Gulf country to cancel this system, which has been under fire by numerous local and international rights organizations. Some view sponsorship as tantamount to slavery as it limits the movement of expatriate workers, who have to ask for permission from sponsors every time they want to leave the city or country. There are different views about the benefits involved in abolishing the sponsorship system. Some welcome it and consider it a major achievement, whereas others criticize it and say that it will result in severe damage to small- and medium-scale enterprises. Detractors believe that the abolishment of sponsorship will affect the national economy if the government does not pass an alternative law to regulate the relationship between employees and employers in order to protect their rights. It is important that such a law should guarantee that an employer does not restrict the movement of workers, exploit them and treat them unfairly. Similarly, employers should also be protected against any form of manipulation practiced by employees, which can negatively impact overall business operations. Some Gulf countries have amended the sponsorship system in favor of employees and have given them more freedom to move around and change their sponsor if they want to, provided that the employee completes the term of the employment contract. These amendments are viewed as the first step toward abolishing the system altogether. However, finding an alternative system is the real challenge. The sponsorship system has undoubtedly put Gulf countries in the line of fire as it has been criticized by local and global human rights watch organizations. Personally speaking, I find that this system leads to the mistreatment and abuse of expatriate workers. However, I believe that there are other culprits in Gulf countries who abuse expatriate workers. People who obtain visas by getting around the system are the main culprits. Overseas and local recruitment offices are also culprits. Overseas agencies are primarily responsible for the injustice meted out to expatriate workers. Overseas agencies give employees false promises of high salaries, bonuses, a comfortable work environment and plenty of opportunities that in reality do not exist. Employees, for their part, believe these lies and sometimes sell property and jewelry in order to buy a work visa to travel abroad. Employees receive empty and false promises while those recruiters who obtain visas illegally are received by agencies and stay in fancy hotels. All this comes at the expense of poor employees who discover the bitter truth when it is much too late. The visas obtained legally by companies and Saudi employers do not do the same harm and damage to workers. The employers who obtain visas illegally bring expatriate workers to the Kingdom and leave them on the street. Whether they have found a job or not, workers have to pay a monthly or annual amount to their sponsor. Although such practices are illegal, most workers prefer them because the income is higher than the usual monthly salary. The only downside is that some sponsors force employees to pay huge amounts of money in order to have their residence permits issued or renewed or to have an exit-rentry visa issued. If an employee does not pay on time, the employer will threaten to deport him by applying for a final exit visa. Expatriate workers in the Gulf region, in general, and Saudi Arabia, in particular, suffer from the problem of salary delay. They might not be paid for months. Today, small as well as large companies delay the payment of salaries for unjustifiable reasons. The Saudi Ministry of Labor should follow in the footsteps of the Qatari Ministry of Labor, which has issued a law that imposes a penalty on any contractor or company that does not pay monthly salaries on time. Under the law, the person in charge of the company will be imprisoned. The penalty is 6,000 Qatari riyals for each worker who has not been paid his salary on time. Some companies have paid fines for violating this law. These are only some of the reforms that the Qatari government is introducing to labor laws. Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
