SAUDI ARABIA: REPORT ON FORCED LABOR AND CHILD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000251

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP
DOL/ILAB FOR RACHEL RIGBY
DRL/ILCSR FOR MARK MITTELHAUSER
G/TIP FOR STEVE STEINER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI ARABIA: REPORT ON FORCED LABOR AND CHILD
LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS

REF: A. STATE 43120

B. JEDDAH 00099


1. (U) Responding on behalf of AMEMBASSY RIYADH.


2. (U) Per request (reftel A),Post provides the following
information regarding the use of forced labor and child labor
in the production of goods in Saudi Arabia. Although most
incidents appear to occur in service industries, there is
anecdotal evidence of forced labor in the production of
manufactured and agricultural goods, particularly in the
forms of deceptive job substitution and salary withholding.


3. (U) Post consulted labor consuls of primary
labor-providing countries as well as professionals in the
fields of manufacturing, agriculture, law enforcement, and
labor law. Additional sources included local press, NGO
reports, and direct interviews with laborers and members of
affected expatriate communities. Requests to MoL and the SAG
Human Rights Commission for meetings and data remain pending.

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Special Difficulties for Migrant Workers
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4. (U) Migrant workers play a dominant role in the Kingdom's
unskilled labor markets. Their legal presence and freedom of
movement depend on having valid residency permits (iqamas),
which are associated with a specific employer and can only be
transferred to a second employer with the consent of the
first. This makes migrant workers especially vulnerable to
exploitation, as does the practice of employers retaining the
passports of their employees. As it is often costly for
employers to secure worker visas, they have a motivation to
keep workers from leaving.

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Manufactured Goods
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5. (U) A lawyer who accepts pro bono labor cases described
the practice of deceptive job substitution at factories,
wherein an immigrant worker arrives in country to find that
the job available for him or her has a much lower salary than
the one promised by an international recruiter before entry.
The lawyer said that it is often the factories that initiate
this practice without informing the recruiters. He
identified cement and packaging materials as two goods where
this is prevalent.


6. (U) A credible source gave an account of six migrant
workers who are currently owed five years of wages by the
textile plant where they worked. With the plant now closed
and their iqamas confiscated by the government, they do not
have the legal or financial means to return home.


7. (U) Mission's Locally Employed Staff (LES) in the Eastern
Province also reported ongoing instances of job substitution
in tailor shops, and noted the additional dilemma presented
by job-specific iqamas, which leave the migrant worker
vulnerable to deportation by MoL when performing work other
than the job cited. Sometimes the terms of the contract are
changed rather than the type of work. A July 2004 Human
Rights Watch report mentioned the case of a seamstress whose
contract was changed on arrival from two years to three, with
a substantial financial penalty if she did not complete the
term.

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Agricultural Goods
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8. (U) The same Human Rights Watch report mentions
occurrences of deceptive job substitution in the herding of
sheep, goats, and camels. In the most egregious case
mentioned, a migrant worker who complained about being
assigned as a shepherd rather than the gardener job he had
applied for was recaptured and beaten repeatedly after his
attempt at escape.


9. (U) Mission's Eastern Province LES reported ongoing
deceptive job substitution and non-payment of wages on farms,
particularly date groves. Third-country officials had few
reports of agricultural exploitation of their expatriates,
although these abuses may be underreported due to their

JEDDAH 00000251 002 OF 002


remoteness from urban centers. Farm workers are particularly
vulnerable as most are explicitly left unprotected by the
Saudi Labor and Workmen Law of 1969, although the Labor Law
of 2006 appears to extend protection to a greater subset of
these workers.

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Government Responses to Exploitative Labor
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10. (U) The Labor Law of 2006 prohibits employment of youth
under 15 and sets conditions for employing those under 18.
The Kingdom is currently party to several international
conventions, treaties, and agreements related to human
trafficking, including 15 of the agreements of the
International Labor Organization (ILO). It is also party to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime, and the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children. The Saudi Labor Minister has
requested that the Council of Ministers issue regulations to
criminalize trafficking in persons (reftel B).


11. (U) SAG has made efforts to provide specialized training
for government officials in how to recognize, investigate,
and prosecute instances of trafficking, and to spread
awareness of the problem itself. In 2007, a U.S. delegation
attended discussions with SAG officials, beginning a planned
series of training courses to enhance SAG capacity to combat
human trafficking (reftel B). Third-country labor consuls
told Post that they have recently seen improved cooperation
from SAG against trafficking in persons.
TONEY