The Center For Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia - Economic Reform

Economic Reform

The problem of discrimination against Saudi Arabia’s religious minorities is compounded by the Saudi regime’s restrictive and inhumane policies towards the country’s nearly nine million foreigners, or one-third of the population of Saudi Arabia, who live and work in the country without any rights or recognition under the law. The vast majority of these expatriates have fled their own poverty-stricken or war-torn countries in Africa and Asia, such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sudan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The 2004 report by the Saudi Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economy and Planning acknowledges that non-Saudis account for 67% of the Kingdom’s labor force, while it is estimated expatriates hold 85–90% of the private sector jobs. There is no minimum wage and workers do not have the right to organize or strike.

In 2004, Human Rights Watch reported that they had encountered both women and men working in conditions resembling slavery. Female workers coming to Saudi Arabia to work as domestic servants often endure the most severe conditions. Upon arrival, they may find that the contracts they signed in their home countries are disregarded and they are forced to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and are paid far less than agreed in the contract, if they receive pay at all. They are forced to sleep on the floor, are underfed, and are forbidden to leave their employment facilities or compounds. They are kept in complete social isolation without outside social contacts or freedom of movement. They are subjected to frequent beatings and often face the trauma of sexual abuse by the male members of the household.

It is virtually impossible for foreign workers to improve their situations, as they are deprived of legal recourse when their passports are confiscated by their employers upon entry to Saudi Arabia. Expatriates who complain or attempt to seek legal redress can be arrested and held indefinitely without charge, legal counsel, and access to their embassies. Consequently, foreigners are executed in much larger numbers than Saudi citizens. For instance, in 2003, fifty individuals were executed by the Saudi authorities; only 19 of them were Saudis.