In 2017, a nurse from Karnataka arrived in Saudi Arabia, lured by the promise of a month-to-month wage of Rs 25,000. As an alternative, she grew to become a sufferer of trafficking and slavery underneath the notorious kafala system, enduring hunger, brutal labour, and threats of violence. Her months-long battle for freedom ended solely after intervention from Indian officers. This case highlighted the tough realities confronted by tens of millions of migrant staff certain by the kafala, a decades-old sponsorship system.
Just lately, Saudi Arabia took a historic step by scrapping the kafala system, which had managed migrant staff for over 50 years. This reform impacts practically 13 million overseas staff within the Kingdom, together with 2.5 million Indians, who make up a good portion of the Saudi labour drive. Whereas this transfer marks a breakthrough, the kafala persists in lots of Gulf international locations, trapping some 24 million staff underneath related restrictions.
What Is The Kafala System?
The kafala, that means “sponsorship” in Arabic, was launched within the Fifties throughout the Gulf’s oil growth to control the inflow of overseas labour. Below this technique, a migrant employee’s authorized standing is tied to a single employer, often known as the kafala system, additionally known as the kafeel, which controls their visa, employment, and even their capacity to depart the nation. Employees are successfully powerless, pressured to depend on their sponsor for permission to vary jobs, journey overseas, or search assist.
Initially supposed to guard native jobs and guarantee a dependable workforce, the system has as a substitute uncovered staff to exploitation and abuse. In Saudi Arabia, the place practically 40% of the inhabitants are migrants, the kafala has significantly impacted low-wage staff in sectors like building, home assist, hospitality, and cleansing. Many Indians, together with staff from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, and Ethiopia, have suffered underneath these circumstances.
How Did The Kafala Allow Slavery?
By giving employers unchecked authority, the kafala opened the door to extreme abuses — withheld wages, confiscated passports, pressured labour, extreme working hours, and even bodily and sexual violence. Many staff discovered themselves remoted and with out authorized recourse.
The case of Haseena Begum, the nurse from Karnataka, is a stark instance. Promised a excessive wage, she was subjected to brutal therapy by her kafeel, together with being thrown from a constructing and overwhelmed at a police station. Solely after diplomatic intervention did she safe her launch.
Equally, Mahavir Yadav, a constructing painter who moved to Saudi Arabia in 2010, died in 2016 following years of abuse and neglect by his employer, who withheld his wages and confiscated his passport, leaving him susceptible.
These are usually not remoted incidents. Organisations corresponding to Amnesty Worldwide, Human Rights Watch, and the Worldwide Labour Organisation report hundreds of such instances yearly. The kafala system matches the Worldwide Labour Organisation’s definition of pressured labour, work carried out underneath risk and with out consent.
Why Did Saudi Arabia Finish The Kafala?
On 14 October 2025, Saudi Arabia formally abolished the kafala system. This choice was pushed by rising worldwide criticism and the Kingdom’s need to reform its financial system and picture underneath Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Imaginative and prescient 2030. The brand new legal guidelines permit staff to vary jobs freely, go away the nation with out employer permission, and entry labour courts instantly.
This reform is anticipated to drastically enhance circumstances for tens of millions of migrants, together with the huge Indian workforce, by granting them authorized protections beforehand denied. Nonetheless, specialists warning that abolishing the regulation on paper is just step one; true change will depend on efficient enforcement and dismantling entrenched abuses.
What’s Subsequent For The Gulf?
Whereas Saudi Arabia’s transfer is a landmark, different Gulf states proceed to implement variations of the kafala system, leaving tens of millions in danger. Qatar made partial reforms forward of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and international locations just like the UAE and Bahrain have launched restricted modifications, however the system largely stays intact.
For tens of millions of migrant staff, lots of whom come from India, the kafala system has been a supply of hardship and injustice. Its abolition in Saudi Arabia affords hope, however the broader battle for truthful therapy and dignity throughout the Gulf is way from over.