"This article first appeared on the Open Democracy site.
Tens of thousands of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are starving. They have limited access to clean drinking water, electricity and medical care.
Trash piles up in the dozens of labor camps they are forced to occupy, leading to squalid conditions in their cramped quarters. Everyone is out of work, and their money is running out, if it hasn’t run out already.
It is impossible for them to pay back the exorbitant debts they accumulated in order to move to Saudi Arabia. They are also now unable to send valuable remittances back to their families in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
No one has been paid in months—their employers, neglected payment by the state, have left these workers with nothing.
The government of Saudi Arabia has a large role to play in this current migrant crisis. In 2014, the drop in oil prices forced the government to selectively implement strict cuts in state spending. The kingdom’s subsequent mismanagement of its finances led to an economic depression, which in turn left the state unable to uphold its contractual obligations.
Saudi Arabia contracted many of the construction companies for which the stranded migrants worked. One of those companies is Saudi Oger, a Lebanese-owned construction mega-company that relies heavily upon the Saudi government for contracted work, such as building defense installations, hospitals and schools.
The government owes Saudi Oger over 30 billion riyals (approximately $8 billion) for work that has already been completed.
The entrenchment of the kafala system, which ties a worker’s immigration and employment status to his or her employer, undermines many of the efforts to alleviate the crisis. Under kafala, a worker cannot switch jobs or leave the country without the explicit permission of his or her employer. However, in the current situation, these requirements are impossible to fulfill, as there are no employers..."
Read entire article @: Newsweek.com
