3.4. Challenges in Addressing Trafficking and Forced Labour

is generally surrounded by a discourse on forced labour. The ILO estimates that there are over 67 million domestic workers across the world (ILO, 2018) ), with mounting allegations of the women being abused and forced to work long hours with little to no pay. In addition to the low status of work, migrant domestic workers face several challenges with respect to language and culture and having to make drastic adjustments emotionally and personally in order to live and work for the stipulated time period.

The situation of migrant domestic workers in the Gulf region is further complicated by the local legislation. Despite a flurry of legislative actions by the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) in the recent past to revise the Kafala system, there is still concern that domestic workers continue to be left out of basic protections afforded to other migrant workers through local labour laws (ILO, 2017, pp. 12-15). In a system where maintenance of the immigration and work status of the migrant worker is “outsourced” to the sponsor by the state, the ILO has identified four vulnerable groups of migrant workers: those whose kafeel (sponsor) is a labour supply company, migrant domestic workers who are not fully covered by domestic labour laws, workers who are on a “free visa” and workers whose status has been rendered irregular for reasons beyond their control (ILO, 2017, pp. 8-9). When the system fails to provide adequate protection for the workers, they tend to flee the employer/sponsor and are often forced into the informal economy to make ends meet (Mahdavi, 2011, pp. 45-49).

While the domestic work sector tends to garner a lot of attention, vulnerability of workers within the construction sector has also gained traction in the past few years, especially since Qatar gears up to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022 (Crocombe, 2014; Pessoa, Harkness and Gardner, 2014). Major developments have led to an influx of migrant workers to the construction sector which is lowskilled, manual, low-waged work. There are long and complex supply chains that span several countries and have many stakeholders (ILO, 2016). The construction sector is the most predisposed [to exploitation] because it has subcontracting. When you have a contractor that assigns a subcontractor, who will also appoint a subcontractor, who will try to earn as much money as possible. And actually, at the end of the chain, there are workers in a difficult situation (LexisNexisBIS, 2016, p. 9).

Within the construction sector, several exploitative factors have been identified with many similarities noted to those identified in the agricultural and the domestic work sectors. Many of the workers’ passports and identity papers are confiscated, with workers not allowed to leave the construction site to meet with their family and friends. There is either no or low salary payments, forcing the workers into a situation of debt bondage with some workers not being paid until the project work is completed (ILO, 2015b, p. 1). There is excessive overtime, where people have to work for either six or seven days at a stretch with the agreements signed in the country of origin not being upheld in the country of destination (LexisNexisBIS, 2016, p. 10).

3.4. Challenges in Addressing

Trafficking and Forced Labour

In general, human trafficking is primarily viewed as a border and crime control issue and thus diverts attention from a key factor:

Efforts to combat trafficking have proceeded from a narrow view of trafficking as a criminal justice problem, with a clear focus on targeting the traffickers and, to a lesser extent, protecting their victims. Addressing the socioeconomic factors at the root of the problem, by contrast, has largely fallen outside the purview of government action (Chuang, 2006, pp. 147-48).

At the same time, the underlying tension between economic and political realities foster conditions that allow human trafficking and forced labour. With governments pushing for policies to curb immigration flows, a larger platform has been created for intermediaries to bring in migrants