The New Slavery in Arabia

[NGONGE]

The US has accused Saudi Arabia and three allied Gulf states of practicing a new form of human slavery with its migrant labor population. While the majority of workers are not abused, it is certainly evident that the treatment of some migrant workers is appalling in the Peninsula and it is not too extreme to accuse those who partake in this trade as modern day slave traders.

 

The US moral stance is appropriate (if somewhat hypocritical given problems with Mexican and other migrant workers -- although the abuses are not comparable in terms of the scope and scale of abuse), but much more needs to be done to curtail this peculiar institution.

 

First, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia rightfully deserve to be condemned and publicly censured by the entire international community for not acting to curtail this new form of slavery. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1962 and hence has no religious or legal defense for permitting such activity. The problem however is not just the inhumane conditions and blatant violations of basic human rights. The entire concept of guest workers needs to be reworked in these countries. In Saudi Arabia, migrant workers apparently need a sponsor (a kafeel) who earns money merely for filing paperwork with the state. The sponsor need not be the actual employer of the laborer. This form of "rentier slavery" is morally repugnant as it steals hard earned income from the world's poorest people to fatten those who do not labor and take no risks. The abolition of this system in favor of a simplified and standardized state regulated green-card system would go a long way toward terminating the new slavery.

 

Second, the sending countries need to be heavily criticized for not doing more to protect their citizens. Although states, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, benefit immensely from the remittances of the "coolie underclass", they are unwilling to mount a vigorous defense of their own people. The sending countries should not hesitate to put the host states on public notice of the diplomatic consequences if they abuse their citizens. Moreover, the beheading of migrant laborers in secret trials without the provision of consular assistance, is a serious breach of international law and human rights. Host countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, should be warned and publicly rebuked for such reprehensible and criminal behavior. Sending countries should also properly warn their citizens before allowing them to go to countries that are known for practicing this form of slavery and deceptive labor practices. Moreover, the corrupt "handlers" who deliver the laborers to the slave owners should be prosecuted within sending countries for fraud and human trafficking.

 

Third, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries need to be held morally responsible for global poverty which their own policies in the seventies helped to exacerbate. If the aim of the Arab oil embargos was to punish Western countries for supporting Israel, then compensation should have been given from the oil revenues to those developing countries which could not adjust to oil price spikes. It was these oil shocks that dealt the final coup de grace to the faltering Bretton Woods system and ultimately began a cycle of petro-dollar recycling which would result in the developing country debt crisis of the eighties. This may be history now, but its effects are still felt today. While there is a great deal of pressure on the G8 countries for debt relief there is almost no pressure on the oil rich countries to do more to assist the rest of the developing world. Western NGO groups must target Saudi and the Gulf countries in their debt relief campaigns as they are also a major source of global poverty and inequality. Easing poverty in the poorest countries would help to alleviate some of the desperation that moves men into bondage.

 

 

Foreign Exchange - Vikash Yadav

[Xoogsade]

I read an article the other day about young kids being repatriated by the UN from the gulf countries and re-unite them with their hard-to-find parents.

 

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/736146/posts

 

 

What is wrong with these wealthy Arabs? LOL