Saudi Arabia/UN: Labour agreement must lead to comprehensive reforms to be a game-changer for migrant workers
Responding to the announcement of a third phase of cooperation between the partnership agreement made earlier today between the Government of Saudi Arabia and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to advance decent work reforms, Iain Byrne, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice, said:
“While today’s announcement recognizes the need for labour reforms for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, it remains unclear how comprehensive this programme will be and what impact it will have on the rights, health and livelihoods of millions of workers who depend on this being much more than a façade.
“Human rights groups and unions have long been demanding for a serious and far-reaching labour reform process that would put an end to the severe exploitation of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. The fact that global unions filed a formal complaint against the country at the ILO on the very same day as this agreement was signed, speaks volumes of just how far Saudi Arabia still has to go to protect the rights of migrant workers in the country.
If this programme is to be truly transformative for migrant workers, it must among other things fully tackle the core features of the abusive kafala system that leave workers wholly dependent on
Iain Byrne, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice
their employers.
“If this programme is to be truly transformative for migrant workers, it must among other things fully tackle the core features of the abusive kafala system that leave workers wholly dependent on their employers. It must also address the severe limits on the freedoms of expression and association in the country, together with the lack of access for NGOs and trade unions which make it impossible to independently monitor the implementation of any labour agreement, further undermining its credibility and effectiveness.
“We urge the Saudi authorities and the ILO to make all aspects of this cooperation public and allow independent monitoring of its implementation. To sufficiently safeguard the rights of the country’s 13.4 million migrant workers, this agreement must lead to a complete overhaul of the current labour system and end the prevalent culture of impunity.”
Background
On 4 June 2025, the ITUC lodged a landmark complaint against Saudi Arabia at the ILO, alleging widespread violations of migrant workers’ rights in the country that’s set to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The ILO governing body is already considering a complaint submitted a year prior by another global trade union, BWI, accusing Saudi Arabia of breaches of the ILO forced labour convention.
In May, Amnesty International published a report documenting the experiences of more than 70 Kenyan women recruited to work in private homes in Saudi Arabia, only to find themselves trapped in conditions that often amounted to forced labour.