Vietnam’s labour brokerage state enables worker abuse in Saudi Arabia

It has been a decade since the Vietnam–Saudi Arabia Bilateral Labour Agreement (BLA) was signed in 2014, allowing women from Vietnam to work as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia under the Kafala system. This system gives the workers’ kafeel complete control over their lives. In 2019, the agreement was quietly renewed for another five years without any public announcement, with the next renewal scheduled for 2024. The secrecy surrounding the 2019 renewal was due to negative publicity and reports of violations of the terms of the agreement by Vietnamese recruitment companies and governmental agencies. These violations continued to be reported through 2022, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to pleas for help from workers’ families. The death of an underage woman in 2021 exposed further abuses, resulting in a UN report on human trafficking in Vietnam.

The media reported on these abuses until the end of 2021 when the Vietnamese government imposed a gag order on coverage to protect its image. As a result, Vietnam was downgraded to Tier 3 in the US Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking-In-Persons report. The failure to establish a Standard Employment Contract (SEC) for Vietnamese workers, as required by the 2014 BLA, has contributed to the ongoing structural violence faced by these workers. The BLA is linked to the Kafala system in Saudi Arabia, which allows employers to control foreign workers. Despite reforms in Saudi Arabia, domestic workers continue to face abuse and exploitation.

The lack of oversight and accountability for recruitment companies involved in sending workers to Saudi Arabia has perpetuated these abuses. The renewal of the BLA in 2019 allowed corrupt companies to continue operating without consequences. It is essential to establish oversight and hold stakeholders accountable to ensure the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers are upheld. Awareness and action are needed to address the issues within the BLA before its renewal in 2024.

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