In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) stated that 13 recruitment offices would be closed and that 31 others would have their licenses revoked for a variety of infractions. Following ministry authorities’ inspection raids of recruitment agencies and businesses, punitive actions were implemented.
Following their failure to comply with the specified standards and requirements regarding the operation of hospitality centers. Their failure to meet the minimum performance requirements based on standards and requirements and their failure to correct the violations within the grace period granted for correction. The licenses of 31 recruitment firms and offices have been suspended for violating the rules on the practice of recruitment activities and the provision of labor services.
Effect of shutdown license on labor
The main driver of Saudi Arabia’s enormous construction development is migrant labor. In Saudi Arabia, there are 13.4 million migrant workers or 42% of the total population. However, despite their invaluable contributions, Human Rights Watch has discovered that migrant workers face pervasive labor abuses across employment sectors and geographic regions. This conclusion is based on interviews conducted between 2023 and 2024 with 156 Saudi Arabian workers, either current or former, or workers’ family members. The Saudi government is routinely failing to stop these atrocities and protect them.
The 2034 World Cup, which the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has planned to give to Saudi Arabia as the lone bidder, is very certain to be marred by widespread rights breaches due to this flagrant inability to protect migrant laborers. According to the FIFA bidding materials, the World Cup will be the biggest to be hosted by a single nation and will require extensive new development, including the construction of eleven new stadiums and four renovated ones, more than 185,000 additional hotel rooms, and a major expansion of the airport, road, rail, and bus networks.
Labor abuses in Saudi Arabia
The 142 migratory laborers, who are based in places ranging from Tabuk in the northwest to Abha in the southwest, include both current and past employees. The employees worked in a variety of industries, such as retail, private health care, hospitality, and construction. Human Rights Watch also conducted interviews with 14 relatives of Saudi Arabian laborers who lost their lives. Migrant workers continue to experience pervasive labor abuses at every stage of the migration cycle, which is consistent.
Saudi Arabia’s kafala, or labor sponsorship, system, which links migrant workers’ legal status to their respective sponsors (Saudi employers), makes these abuses possible. Beyond the rounds of labor reforms, with the most-discussed being the 2024 Labor Reform Initiative aiming to ease the ability of workers to change jobs and leave the country, the Saudi legal and regulatory framework fails to address the endemic abuses resulting from the kafala system, which accords employers extraordinary control over the lives of workers. Besides, Saudi Arabia continues to severely restrict the right to free speech and prohibits migrant workers from organizing trade unions, participating in collective bargaining, or going on strike.
Challenges in Saudi labor laws
Businesses must stress the importance of properly enforcing the laws in place to safeguard workers, but as many Saudi Arabian regulations are insufficient by design and do not provide adequate protection for workers, compliance alone does not provide worker protection. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, even though it might be extremely hot outside of the noon ban hours and months, outdoor employment is forbidden for a few predetermined hours during the summer. Only fatalities or injuries deemed to be related to the job are eligible for compensation under Saudi labor law.
However, Saudi authorities do not adequately investigate the bulk of worker injuries and deaths, instead attributing them to “cardiac arrests” or “natural deaths.” Consequently, the majority of workers do not receive any compensation. FIFA and other multinational corporations cannot avoid accountability for the widespread violations of workers’ rights under international standards or their duties under international human rights instruments by merely adhering to such insufficient regulations.
Saudi Arabia’s recent proceedings against negligent recruitment agencies highlight a dramatic change toward more stringent labor market regulation. The MHRSD seeks to improve the general integrity of the hiring process in the kingdom in addition to safeguarding employees by proactively resolving infractions. Stakeholders from a variety of industries will be keenly monitoring these developments as they develop to see how they affect local and international labor dynamics.