A report by BWI evidencing labour rights violations against migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, as part of its complaint to the ILO against the country, describes the experiences of a migrant worker (named 'Migrant Worker 3') sold his land in Nepal prior to migrating to pay illegal recruitment fees charged by his recruitment agent for a job with Aramco in Saudi Arabia. He was told he would be directly employed by Aramco for SAR 1’700 a month (US$ 450). However, the workers employer turned out to be another construction company. Through the new employer, he now works for yet another company, a contractor involved in oil, gas, and construction projects. He works 10-hour shifts, and has poor living conditions.
企業
Saudi Aramco
- Other Value Chain Entity
其他
Not Reported (
建築
)
- Employer
,
Not Reported (
建築和建材：綜合
)
- Other Value Chain Entity
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 尼泊爾
, 建築
, Men
, Unknown migration status
)
議題
招聘費用
,
Contract Substitution
,
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time
,
Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions
回應
Response sought: 否
資訊來源: NGO
摘要
日期: 2024年6月5日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
A migrant worker worked for a fast-food chain in Saudi Arabia through a manpower agency. Called 'Migrant worker 4' in the report, the worker says his monthly wage is three
times lower than that of other workers that were hired directly by the company, rather than the
manpower agency: co-workers are employed in similar roles and capacities. The worker is forced to work for more than eight hours, both without his consent and without adequate compensation for overtime work. In the time span of one-month, the worker reports having worked 4 hours of overtime every workday, amounting to a total of 12 work hours each day, while his company compensated him with SAR 200 (US$ 53) instead of the SAR 550 (US$ 147), which had been promised. The worker finally refused to work overtime, requesting permission from the company to return to his home country, Nepal. When the manpower agency threatened the worker with the request of a lumpsum additional payment of SAR 5’200 (US$ 1’390) to approve his exit, he was forced to continue working.
其他
Not Reported (
Labour supplier
)
- Employer
,
Not Reported (
餐館和酒吧
)
- Other Value Chain Entity
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 地點未知
, 服務：綜合
, Men
, Unknown migration status
)
議題
Contract Substitution
,
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time
,
Mandatory overtime
,
Wage Theft
,
恐嚇和威脅
,
Restricted mobility
回應
Response sought: 否
資訊來源: NGO
摘要
日期: 2024年6月4日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
A Kenyan migrant worker who worked as a domestic worker in Hafar Al Batin was sexually abused and worked for 24 hours a day. She told her recruitment agency of the employer's violence, incl. sexual violence, towards her. The recruitment agency did nothing to support her. After months of physical and sexual violence, the worker ended up in hospital. Eventually the worker fled and informed the police, who, as well as her agent, required her to provide evidence of her abuse from the same family responsible for abusing her. She refused to ask her employer’s family for evidence of her abuse. Upon her return to the employer’s family home, she was beaten and sold to the brother of the employer. Her wounds became infected; she also continued to work excessive overtime with hardly any food or wages. After an attempt to murder her by poison, Migrant worker 5 developed stomach pain and bleeding, and was taken to the hospital. From the hospital, she was sent to the office of the manpower agency, where she was locked up with other Africans with similar cases.
其他
Not Reported (
家傭中介公司
)
- Recruiter
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 肯亞
, 清潔與保養
, Women
, Unknown migration status
)
議題
強姦和性侵犯
,
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time
,
Access to Non-Judicial Remedy
,
剝奪言論自由
,
Access to Justice & Legal Protection
,
受傷
,
毆打和暴力
,
恐嚇和威脅
,
食物權
,
Wage Theft
,
Restricted mobility
回應
Response sought: 否
資訊來源: NGO
摘要
日期: 2024年6月5日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
A migrant security guard (called 'Migrant Worker 7 in the source) from Punjab, India, experienced labour rights abuse in Saudi Arabia. When the worker's Iqama expired and he asked the company to renew it, he was ignored- with the expectation that he would illegally continue working, against his consent. Over the course of four years, the worker was also denied leave, making it impossible for him to leave the country and see his family. Repeated requests from the worker to take his annual leave led to the employer levying false charges against him. He was held by his employer with his movement severely restricted, and without any access to legal aid. To secure his freedom and return to his country of origin, the worker was asked by the company to pay INR 13’00’000 (US$ 15’607). As he could not afford the price of his freedom, the false charge of theft was formalised, and the worker was sent to jail.
Denial of leave
,
Restricted mobility
,
恐嚇和威脅
,
Access to Non-Judicial Remedy
,
Access to Justice & Legal Protection
,
Failing to renew visas
,
扣留身份證件
回應
Response sought: 否
後續行動: After almost a year, with the support of the Embassy services to which his family had appealed in the home country, the Saudi Court delivered a judgement in his favour,
and the case was dismissed.
At present, the worker is still in jail, awaiting the completion of the administrative procedures that will allow hm to return to India.
資訊來源: News outlet
摘要
日期: 2024年6月5日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
A migrant worker from the Philippines worked at a store in Saudi Arabia, where his passport was held by his employer. He was dismissed in 2015, and he kept working for one of the managers without any compensation until mid-2017. Throughout his 34-year service in Saudi Arabia, the worker worked 6 days per week, and 10 hours a day. His conditions were different to those promised to him when he was recruited in the Philippines. He experienced sexual harassment and violence at the workplace, and after raising a complaint about this, he was transferred from Riyadh to a western province of Saudi Arabia, after which he was demoted from being an assistant manager at the store, to being a storekeeper again.
其他
Not Reported (
零售
)
- Employer
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 菲律賓
, 服務：綜合
, Men
, Unknown migration status
)
議題
扣留身份證件
,
Wage Theft
,
Denial of leave
,
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time
,
Contract Substitution
,
性騷擾
,
強姦和性侵犯
,
Access to Non-Judicial Remedy
,
恐嚇和威脅
回應
Response sought: 否
資訊來源: News outlet
摘要
日期: 2024年6月5日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
In 2024, Builders and Woodworkers' International filed a complaint against Saudi Arabia under Article 24 of the ILO constitution, amid widespread human rights violations against migrant workers in the country. Violations included the continued denial of remedy to workers impacted by labour rights abuse of workers employed by Saudi Oger. The complaint includes various case studies from impacted workers:
A Filipino migrant worker who worked for Saudi Oger in Saudi Arabia had his passport confiscated, and had his wages withheld. Between January 2016 to May 2016, the worker and another 8’829 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) employed by the same company did not receive their monthly salaries or any other pending benefits. Food provision also stopped after the company went bankrupt in 2016. Owing to a severe fear of reprisal either from his employer, Saudi Oger, and/or from the Saudi government, the workers did not lodge complaints. There were several verbal reports among the workforce that workers who protested the non-payment were consequently ransacked by the authorities: a clear sign of intimidation and threats. Migrant workers could not organize, owing to the fear of arrest, further intimidation, discrimination, or even detention under falsified charges. To date, the workers wages have still not been settled.
Another worker, a Filipino electrical supervisor at Saudi Oger had his passport withheld & experienced wage theft, leading to severe financial strain to simply meet his basic subsistence needs. Saudi Oger refused to release him to another employer as he was under an employment contract. By means of intimidation by his manager, he was told that he would have to pay a huge amount of money to be released. He could not afford the price and he was forced to continue to work for his old employer without pay, amounting to forced labour. The worker decided to return home, but died before he could. Although the company eventually paid the expenses for repatriating the body, no compensation was ever paid to the family. After more than 8 years from the date of the worker's demise and from filing a case file for payment of his outstanding wages, his wife is still awaiting her remedy
企業
Saudi Oger
- Employer
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 菲律賓
- 未知行业
, Men
, Unknown migration status
)
後續行動: To date, the workers wages have still not been settled.
資訊來源: NGO
摘要
日期: 2024年6月5日
地點:
沙烏地阿拉伯
In 2024, Builders and Woodworkers' International filed a complaint against Saudi Arabia under Article 24 of the ILO constitution, amid widespread human rights violations against migrant workers in the country. Violations included the continued denial of remedy to workers impacted by labour rights abuse of workers employed by MMG (Mohammad Al-Mojil Group), including mass unpaid wages.
企業
Mohammad Al-Mojil Group
- Employer
受影響的
受影響的總人數:
數字未知
移民和移民工人: (
數字未知
- 地點未知
, 建築
, Gender not reported
, Unknown migration status
)
In a landmark case, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is filing two formal complaints with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against Saudi Arabia for severe human rights abuses and wage theft involving at least 21,000 construction workers by various but mainly two now-bankrupt Saudi construction companies alone.
The complaint emphasises the exploitative living and working conditions among the country’s vast migrant workforce: conditions that BWI notes are akin to forced labour. As Saudi Arabia positions itself to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, this complaint demands immediate attention from FIFA and the international community. FIFA is expected to receive the single bid for the 2034 World Cup host in July.
The complaint calls for a thorough ILO investigation into these violations, emphasizing the urgent need for remedy and adherence to international labour standards. In response to BWI’s complaint, numerous trade unions in South and South-East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and human rights organisations who have identified and documented similar violations in Saudi Arabia are supporting this call to the ILO…
Among the many cases received by the BWI and other human rights organisations, findings based on direct evidence from around 200 migrant construction workers, paint a grim picture. Indicators of forced labour, as defined by the ILO, are rampant…