Human Rights Watch forthrightly condemned abuse of the visa system in certain Middle East countries in an excoriating report released this week. The organisation accuse Middle East regimes of being complicit in creating working conditions it likens to slavery. According to a spokesperson:

“Employers have near-total control over migrants. Without the ability to change jobs, and sometimes to leave the country, workers can get trapped in exploitative situations in which they are forced to work without wages, get beaten, or face other abuses”

The “Kafala” system of sponsorship is commonplace in the GCC countries, where up to 12 million foreign workers are empoyed. Critics say that the sponsorship program is a double edged sword. It makes it easy for foreign workers to take up jobs in the Gulf, but simultaneously binds them to their employers in situations that are often very inequitable. In Kuwait, for example icriminal charges can be brought against workers who leave their jobs, and in Saudi Arabia and Qatar workers have to seek an exit visa with the permission of their employees in order to leave the country. The Gulf states are, of course, no strangers to criticism. But with their continued economic might and the reliance of the world on petrochemicals from the region, it is difficult for other countries to effectively push for change.