Migrant construction workers in Dubai lay rebar in 2009. Static146/Flickr. Creative Commons.
The 2022 World Cup has brought the abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf states into the global spotlight. Hiding behind the glittery skyline they have constructed over the past thirty years, migrant workers comprise nearly two-thirds of the GCC’s labour force, totalling nearly 22 million migrant workers across the six GCC states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). At least 600,000 of these are currently subjected to forced labour. This is a reality that, from my first hand research into these issues, I know most consumers in this hub of luxury never see.
The slave-like treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is not limited to the World Cup, nor is it a new phenomenon. State-sponsored trafficking and forced labour has been part of GCC state development strategies ever since many of them ceased to be part of the British protectorate in 1971. The history of slavery and forced labour in the Gulf of course goes back much longer than this—as it does elsewhere—however my research shows the space for its modern incarnation is created through the interplay of modern immigration and labour laws . Central here is the kafala system (translated as the sponsorship system), introduced in the early 1930s. The term is intended to capture the Arabian notion of hospitality, however this system effectively allows GCC nationals and companies to traffic workers into the GCC for the purposes of labour exploitation.
