Qatar's death row and the invisible migrant workforce deemed unworthy of due process 19/01/2023, 10:36 Since the 1950s the kafala system of migration emerged to facilitate short-term migration with no prospect of the migrant gaining citizenship. Under this system, a migrant worker must be sponsored by a Gulf national (who becomes their kafeel). A worker’s legal status in the host country is dependent on their employment and relationship with their kafeel. This dependency makes unskilled workers susceptible to harsh working and living conditions, high recruitment fees (that leave migrant workers in debt), passport confiscation (so they cannot leave), wages being withheld, and the employer substituting their contract for one with less favourable conditions. Some migrant workers are more vulnerable than others – especially domestic workers who work in the unregulated domestic sphere, not covered by labour laws. Migrant workers are not able to join trade unions or strike. If they leave their employment without permission from their employer, or stay in the country past the duration of their temporary visa, they face fines, detention, deportation and a ban on re-entry. These conditions place workers in a situation that is tantamount to forced labour. And indeed, the human rights NGO Reprieve notes that: The socioeconomic disadvantage and generally abusive work environments endured by many migrant workers in Gulf and South East Asian states render them especially vulnerable to human trafficking and to facing the death penalty for crimes that arise out of their trafficking and exploitation. For foreign nationals sentenced to death for drug trafficking, our data suggest that the kafala system creates the conditions for drug trafficking, with many of those on death row across the region claiming to have been forced, tricked or coerced into ingesting capsules of drugs by the agents who arranged their job in the Gulf. This concerning trend has been reported on elsewhere in the region, for example, a report by Human Rights Watch and Justice Project Pakistan suggested that labour recruitment agencies in Pakistan may be involved in drug trafficking, exposing Pakistani migrant workers to risks of incarceration and execution. The report states: In several cases, detainees and family members alleged that men involved in the recruiting firms that sent Pakistanis to Saudi Arabia forced them to traffic drugs to Saudi Arabia. Wider Gulf findings https://theconversation.com/qatars-death-row-and-the-invisible-migrant-workforce-deemed-unworthy-of-due-process-191017 Page 9 of 12