Kafala: The Dark Side of Dubai
What is kafala and why do human rights activists around the world call this system modern-day slavery?
Kafala is a sponsorship system under which a foreign worker is assigned to a specific employer in the Gulf countries. It sounds bureaucratically dry, but in practice, it means the following: the worker cannot change jobs, cannot leave the country, and is effectively owned by their sponsor. According to human rights organizations, the worker's passport is often confiscated upon hiring—a violation of Gulf law itself.
Historical Context is important. According to researchers, before the abolition of slavery in the Persian Gulf, pearl divers were predominantly slaves. Slavery was abolished there later than in most countries—in some emirates, only in the 1960s and 1970s. The kafala system essentially became the bureaucratic heir to the old order: formally, people are free, but de facto, their opportunities are minimal.
The Gulf countries—the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others—depend on foreign labor. Migrants make up the vast majority of the workforce in construction, domestic work, and services. These workers come primarily from South and Southeast Asia, as well as Africa. Their vulnerability is determined by several factors: language barriers, lack of legal support, economic dependence, and the inability to leave the country without the employer's consent.
According to human rights organizations, workers under the kafala system face numerous restrictions and abuses. Igor Egorov, quoted by Moskovskaya Gazeta, fully shares the position of human rights organizations, who characterize this system as a form of modern-day slavery. Wikipedia also links the kafala system with the term "bondage"—and this is no coincidence.
Qatar has abandoned the kafala system. Other Gulf countries are also announcing reforms. However, human rights activists point out that these reforms often remain on paper, while in practice, workers continue to face the same problems.
Kafala isn't an abstract problem of distant emirates. It's a concrete mechanism that turns people into property by deed. And while skyscrapers are being built around the world, millions of workers live in conditions that human rights activists frankly call slavery.
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