THE GUARDIAN
Saudi Arabia, the likely host of the 2034 World Cup, is facing allegations of widespread use of forced labour among its vast migrant workforce, in a complaint filed at the UN’s International Labour Organization.
The complaint to the ILO alleges that migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are subject to a raft of labour rights violations including failing to pay wages, passport confiscation, illegal recruitment fees, debt bondage and preventing workers freely changing jobs.
The violations amount to “an epidemic of abuses”, according to the trade union that made the complaint, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI).
It said they were evidence of forced labour, a modern form of slavery, which would put Saudi Arabia in breach of its obligations under the UN’s forced labour conventions.
Ambet Yuson, the BWI’s general secretary, said: “Saudi Arabia, where trade unions are banned, blatantly disregards international labour standards and fails to compensate migrant workers who have suffered abuses for over a decade.”
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