Walls at every turn: abuse of migrant domestic workers through Kuwait's sponsorship system

Foreign domestic workers play an essential role in Kuwaiti households. However, some Kuwaiti citizens take advantage of weak legal protections and use the isolated home environment as a mean to shield the abuse of workers from any serious scrutiny.

This report shows that Kuwait's sponsorship system effectively shields employers from legal responsibility to respond to charges of nonpayment and forced labour. The system also allows employers to petition immigration authorities to cancel workers' legal residency, while providing workers with few practical avenues for redress. The paper reveals that domestic workers seeking assistance at police stations face unclear responses; the police leave them unsure as to whether they will be helped or penalised. In addition, the authorities responsible for protecting these workers may instead abuse them. In terms of shelters, the paper points out that some embassies have shelters for domestic workers in distress, but these shelters are overcrowded and inadequate, and the resident may stay for weeks and months.

As a result, the document recommends the Kuwait government do the following:

• reform the sponsorship system, and particularly remove provisions on absconding, including any criminal penalties
• prohibit employers from confiscating foreign workers' passports, and include these workers under Kuwait’s labour laws
• provide shelters or financial support for civil society shelters that meet international standards and allow access to all workers escaping abusive work conditions
• increase recruitment agency monitoring by devoting greater resources towards this mandate
• inform domestic workers of their rights and responsibilities under Kuwaiti law, and provide information and contact details for sources of assistance.

Additionally, workers' governments have to raise the cases of nationals who suffer abuse at the diplomatic, and if necessary, public level, and enhance labour departments of embassies or consulates in Kuwait.