This article examines labor and migration in the Gulf and variations in the legal provisions for workers. Since the 1970s, there has been a significant increase in South and Southeast Asian worker migration to the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). Over the last four decades, these migrant workers have replaced Arab migrants throughout the Gulf. In order to deal with the massive influx of these workers, Gulf States have instituted a sponsorship system (kafala) which becomes the legal basis for residency and employment. This article analyzes the kafala system used in each Gulf State and explores the factors which account for differences in the structure and legal basis of the sponsor-employee relationship as well as variations in the application of the system to Arab and non-Arab migrant workers. We find that the economy of the GCC country heavily influences the type of kafala system used.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
As of this writing in October 2013, neither Bahrain nor Kuwait has significantly reformed their sponsorship system.
Robert E.B. Lucas, International Migration And Economic Development: Lessons from Low-Income Countries (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008).
Andrzej Kapiszewski, Nationals and Expatriates. Population and Labour Dilemmas of the GCC States (Reading: Ithaca Press, 2001).
M. Ghobash, Immigration and Development in the United Arab Emirates (Cairo: Al Wafa Press, 1986); Maurice Girgis, “Would Nationals and Asians Replace Arab Workers in the GCC?” (paper presented at Fourth Mediterranean Development Forum, Amman, Jordan, 2002).
Anisur Rahman, “Migration and Human Rights in the Gulf,” in Migration and the Gulf (Washington, DC: Middle East Institute, 2010).
Manolo I. Abella, “Asian Migrant and Contract Workers in the Middle East,” in The Cambridge Survey of World Migration, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
Kapiszewski, Nationals and Expatriates. Population and Labour Dilemmas of the GCC States, 2001, 133–144.
Liesl Graz,, The Turbulent Gulf: People, Politics and Power, (London: I. B. Tauris, 1992).
David McMurray, “Trafficking and Transiting: New Perspectives on Labor Migration,” Middle East Report 211 (1999), 16–19; Longva, “Keeping Migrant Workers in Check: The Kafala System in the Gulf.”
Martin Ruhs and Philip Martin, “Numbers vs. Rights: Trade-Offs and Guest Worker Programs,” International Migration Review 42 (2008): 249–265.
Martin Piore, Birds of Passage: Migrant Labor and Industrial Societies (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979).
No. 87, 1948.
No. 98, 1949.
No. 100, 1951.
No. 29, 1930.
No. 105, 1957.
No. 111, 1958.
No. 138, 1973.
No. 182, 1999.
No. 81, 1947.
No. 122, 1964.
No. 129, 1969.
No. 144, 1976.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 889 | 244 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 302 | 46 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 257 | 93 | 6 |
This article examines labor and migration in the Gulf and variations in the legal provisions for workers. Since the 1970s, there has been a significant increase in South and Southeast Asian worker migration to the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). Over the last four decades, these migrant workers have replaced Arab migrants throughout the Gulf. In order to deal with the massive influx of these workers, Gulf States have instituted a sponsorship system (kafala) which becomes the legal basis for residency and employment. This article analyzes the kafala system used in each Gulf State and explores the factors which account for differences in the structure and legal basis of the sponsor-employee relationship as well as variations in the application of the system to Arab and non-Arab migrant workers. We find that the economy of the GCC country heavily influences the type of kafala system used.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 889 | 244 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 302 | 46 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 257 | 93 | 6 |