The US State Department’s annual report on human trafficking 2012 states that “although many migrant workers sign contracts delineating their rights, some report work conditions that are substantially different from those described in the contract. Other migrant workers never see a contract at all, leaving them especially vulnerable to forced labour, including debt bondage.”
Saudi Arabia has legislation which states that foreign workers need permission from their employers to get an “exit visa” before they can leave the country. This provision has come in handy for unscrupulous Arab employers who withhold exit permits and force migrant labourers to work for months or years beyond their contract term.
“Women, primarily from Asian and African countries, are believed to be forced into prostitution in Saudi Arabia. Some female domestic workers are reportedly kidnapped and forced into prostitution after running away from abusive employers,” the report stated.
Referring to the menace of minor girls marrying elderly Arab nationals, the US report stated that Saudi nationals travelled to destinations including India to pick girls for prostitution. Some men used legally contracted “temporary marriages”, including in India as a means to sexually exploit young girls and women. The report accused the government of Saudi Arabia of not fully complying with minimum standards for elimination of trafficking and not making significant efforts to do so.
Domestic workers — the population most vulnerable to forced labour — are excluded from general labour law protections and employers continue to regularly withhold workers’ passports as a means of keeping them in forced labour, despite this practice being prohibited by a Council of Ministers’ decision in 2000. There have been hundreds of incidents of women from Andhra Pradesh being held captive or being forced to return their wages.
The report suggested reforms in the sponsorship system and enforcing existing laws to discourage employers from withholding workers’ passports and restricting their movements, including arbitrarily denying permission for exit visas, as a means to prevent trafficking abuses.