* Trigger warning: The following article contains sensitive content and violence
In January 2023, a 35-year-old Filipino domestic worker was found dead in a desert in Kuwait, pregnant, and burned. Her employer’s 17-year-old son was convicted and is to be sentenced to 15 years. This is not the first time such incidents have occurred to migrant domestic workers in Kuwait; there have been many reported cases of physical and emotional abuse.
In the Middle East alone, there are approximately 6.6 million domestic workers, most of whom are female migrants. In Kuwait, there are around 744, 845 domestic workers as of 2021, which is the second highest in the region following Saudi Arabia. The opening of borders has provided individuals with new employment opportunities and higher payments. The increasing labour across borders has also facilitated economic growth in labour-sending states. Despite such benefits, an unregulated market where work happens behind closed doors challenges proper monitoring and can readily exploit workers in vulnerable environments. Especially in Kuwait where many workers are employed through the Kafala, a sponsorship system, the structural power imbalance normalizes migrant workers’ legal dependency on their kafeel(employers). This system has increasingly been associated with forced labour. Due to the weak presence and implementation of laws, migrant domestic workers adhere to unwanted labour, including treatment such as underpayment, excessive working hours, passport confiscation, exploitation, and trafficking.
In its national report submitted to the Human Rights Council for the 2020 Universal Periodic Review, Kuwait declared that it is “eager to increase protection and care for migrant workers.” It previously adopted the Domestic Workers Act No.68 in 2015 to protect migrant workers and established a separate department for domestic labour. Moreover, recent laws compensate for overtime work and set the minimum wage ($250 US) to address some aspects of labour rights. In this regard, Kuwait has been commended by UN member states for its efforts in increasing protection for domestic workers. Yet, female domestic workers continue to encounter the need to escape abusive households, remaining vulnerable to passport confiscation, lacking safeguards when labelled as absconding and experiencing widespread trafficking.
In a private labour environment, proper regulation is almost impossible. When migrant domestic workers are faced with short or long-term violence, there are no concrete measures to guarantee a safe area under the surveillance system. Only severe cases of abuse are investigated upon the worker’s report. Thus, the screening process for filing complaints allows protection for workers only after they have reached devastating levels of abuse. This includes instances of deaths, such as Jullebee Ranara, the 35-year-old Filipino worker, where it is too late to implement any protection mechanism. The flaw in the reporting system limits the ability of workers to seek timely assistance and protection. Therefore, some people have claimed that the inherent nature of this workforce is a modern form of slavery. Workers are commodified as employers develop a sense of ownership over those who are legally dependent on them. The BBC News Arabic has even found cases of some domestic workers being bought and sold by their employers on online platforms.
Due to the improper and dangerous work environment, many workers choose to escape their workplace. When domestic workers escape their abusive employers without previously filing a report or finding government shelter, Kuwait’s Domestic Workers Law No.68 deems them as ‘absconding’(i.e., running away without permission). Hence, under this harsh categorization, workers are vulnerable to potential deportation, arrest, or even fines. Yet interestingly, the reporting mechanism in Kuwait is not properly facilitated as highlighted earlier, and government shelters rarely accept individuals falling under this category. This means that only those who have experienced high levels of abuse and have received permission to ‘escape,’ can find proper shelters. Otherwise, consent from their employers would be necessary to change their workplace – which is an extremely rare case. Escape no longer holds its original meaning. This may be the reason why many decide to remain in their work environment despite its abusive nature. The trap puts workers in a cycle of vulnerability.
Moreover, ‘escaped’ workers who fail to seek government shelters are likely to face the dangers of trafficking. Despite Kuwait’s recent prohibition of passport confiscation from these workers, the Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) reported that it received 3,980 reports of it in 2022. The practice persists due to the lack of punitive measures for employers. Passport confiscation is still allowed when given worker’s consent, which is a vague process. Consequently, the ones who escape from their employers are vulnerable to exploitation in illegal worksites and human trafficking by those who seek to utilize their absence of proper documentation.
With migrant domestic workers constituting more than 25% of total employment, Kuwait faces a critical need for better measures in implementing its existing laws and broadening its scope of influence. An essential amendment to the Domestic Workers Act is necessary to protect all forms of abuse by complying with international guidelines to safeguard individuals throughout their entire migration process. This means that workers must have the right to file a complaint and demand protection upon mistreatment, irrespective of its severity. Additionally, as recommended by the Human Rights Committee, the definition or application of ‘absconding’ should be revised or abolished to prevent it from keeping workers in forced labor and to enable them to access government shelters. Labor-sending states could also strengthen their consular protection in labor-receiving states.
Edited by Lilya Boumehraz
Shihun Lee is a first year student at McGill University, currently pursuing a B.A. degree in Economics and International Development Studies. She joined Catalyst as a staff writer this year and is particularly interested in international relations and human rights.