A number of human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Migrant-Rights, have called upon Saudi authorities to ensure adequate protection for migrant workers.
In their joint letter to Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi, Minister of Labor and Social Development, they maintain that Saudi Arabia is highly dependent on low-paid migrants who come from South and South-East Africa. They further warn that these migrants are disproportionately placed at greater risk and are more likely to face reductions in wages and job losses. They also suffer from crowded accommodations; inadequate access to medical care and health insurance as well as being subject to detention and imprisonment. Prisons and detention centres are described as “cramped, dismal and unhygienic conditions”.
There has been little information surrounding that spread of the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia which has left human rights organisations concerned. The letter calls for ensuring “education and access to information concerning the main health problems in the community, including methods of preventing and controlling them”.
To read the full letter click here.
