Labor and Migration in

Middle East
Source: pinterest.com
 Middle East
Countries

• In general, by its security and economic development, Middle East can be

differentiate into three groups, (1) Well established and rich countries GCC
(Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and The United Arab Emirates),
(2) Non GCC with fair security and economic development (Jordan, Marocco,
Kuwait, Lebanon, etc.), (3) Countries that still have security and social conflict.
• By this difference, we can see that there are differ condition in these three
countries regarding labor and migration.
cont.

▰ GCC countries and non GCC countries with fair and well economic
development are host countries in the Middle East for international labor.
▰ The GCC region—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—
is the most popular destination for temporary labor migrants of any world
region
▰ The fact that those countries welcome migrant worker from Asian and
African countris ( Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia
and Ethiopia, etc.) and most of them chategorized as low skilled worker.
cont.

▰ Better salary is one of main reasons many international worker prefer to work in
Middle East.
▰ Due to rapid infrastructure development in Arab countries, it directly involves
many workers in this. Workers from Asian and African countries are welcomed to
work as construction workers.
▰ Workers originally from Arab (Arab nationalities) tend to work at high level job,
so the migrant workers come to fill the unprefered job such low skilled job at a
variety of sectors, including the oil and gas industry, agriculture, transportation
and hospitality, by far the largest number of migrant workers are found in
construction and in domestic worker.
cont.

▰ The Arab States region is one of the main destination regions globally for
migrant workers, and the numbers have increased substantially in recent
years. The proportion of migrant to local workers is amongst the highest in
the world. Many of these migrant workers are low-skilled workers, in
sectors such as construction and hospitality, or domestic workers. Migrant
workers contribute substantially to the development of their destination
countries and send vital remittances to their families and communities, but
many of them face a number of decent work challenges.
source: www.ilo.org
Facts

▰ In 2019, according to the Population Division of the United Nations Department of

Economic Affairs (UNDESA), there were 35 million international migrants in the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and Jordan and Lebanon, of whom 31 per cent
were women.
▰ Migrants in the six GCC States account for over 10 per cent of all migrants globally,
while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates host respectively the third and fifth
largest migrant populations in the world.
source: www.ilo.org
 cont.

• Foreign nationals make up the majority of the population in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar
and the United Arab Emirates (and more than 80 per cent of the population in Qatar
and the United Arab Emirates).
• The proportion of non-nationals in the employed population in GCC countries is
among the highest in the world with an average of 70.4 per cent, ranging from 56 to
93 per cent for individual countries. Migrants in the Arab States remitted over USD
124 billion in 2017, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia ranking second
and third globally in terms of remittance outflow (after the United States), and Kuwait
and Qatar ranking eighth and tenth respectively.
source: www.ilo.org
 cont.

▰ The live of migrant worker in Middle East often discussed by many people because there
are still social and living problems that faced by the worker.
▰ In many Arab countries, migrant domestic workers are excluded from national labour
legislation, and are often tied to their employers through a restrictive sponsorship system
known as Kafala. Kafala ties workers to their employers, the kafeel (sponsor), who then
determine the working and living conditions.
▰ Note: Since 2018, Indonesian and Saudi Arabian government agreed to change kafala
system into syarikah for Indonesian migrant worker.
 cont.

▰ The informal, unregulated and isolated their work renders migrant domestic
workers vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and forced labour. Often, they are denied
many basic working rights related to remuneration, periods of rest, retention of
their identity documents, leave and freedom of association outside the domiciles
they work in.
Source: www.ilo.org
Other isues related t labor
and migrant in Middle East

▰ Poor conditions of work and substantial occupational safety and health

deficits combined with weak labour inspection in migrant-intensive sectors
such as construction and domestic work;
▰ Non-inclusion or only partial inclusion of certain categories of migrant
workers, such as domestic workers, in labour laws – while a number of
countries in the region have adopted separate laws regulating the domestic
work sector, the protections afforded are often inferior to those provided in
the labour law;
cont.

▰ Limited access to justice, weak and inefficient dispute settlement

mechanisms and absence of compensation schemes; and
▰ Limited or no freedom of association in some countries and inability of
migrant workers to bargain collectively.
Government Responses

▰ The UAE government has reformed its laws as well as its bilateral agreements
with labor-sending countries over the past several years. It has also scaled up
its international cooperation on labor issues, and many Emirate-level
governments have also taken steps to protect the rights of migrant workers.
▰ UAE officials have also shown openness to international cooperation on labor
standards, for example taking an active role in the Abu Dhabi Dialogue,
established in 2008, which brings together 11 origin countries and seven
Asian destination countries and aims to create a regional framework for
regulating labor migration.
source: www.migrationpolicy.org
 cont.

▰ Different conditions heppening in other Middle East countries that still have
conflicts and economic problems such as Yemen, Syria, etc.
▰ These countries known for their people migration into many countries especially
into European countries such as Germany, France, etc.
▰ It often bring out a question, why the prefer to migrate into European countries
instead of into well established countries in Middle East?
 cont.

▰ There are some answer to this quesion, first, it is easier to get asylum permit in
several European countries for international migrant than in Middle East
countries.
▰ Second, geopolitical conflict that happened in the Middle East region, as we know
that conflict of Suni and Syiah is still one of the main conflict in Middle East region.
▰ Than, well established countries in Middle East such as GCC have no proper
experiences in control migration specifically concerning about migrantion from
countries with conflict (source: The Middle East Institute)
Tugas

▰ Jelaskanlah tanggapan anda terhadap materi yang

telah dibahas di atas. Diketik dalam word min.
250 kata dan disubmit di Ilearn paling lambat
hari ini tgl 7 April 2020 jam 18.30 wib
Source:

▰ www.ilo.org
▰ www.migrantpolicy.org
“ Thank You