ILO to examine labor complaint against Saudi Arabia

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Geneva, Switzerland — A complaint accusing Saudi Arabia of abusing migrant workers has been deemed admissible by the UN labour agency, it said Thursday, amid fears that abuse could swell as the country prepares to host the 2034 World Cup.

Last June, the Building and Wood Workers’ International union filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization on behalf of 21,000 alleged victims of “severe human rights abuses” and wage theft in Saudi Arabia.

It alleged that “exploitative living and working conditions among the country’s vast migrant workforce” were “akin to forced labour”.

READ: Global union hits Saudi Arabia for abusing migrant workers

The complaints focus on two Saudi-based construction firms, BWI and Equidem, that went bankrupt in 2016.

Both BWI and Equidem contend conditions for migrant workers have not improved in a country where non-Saudi nationals account for 13.4 million people out of a total 32.2 million.

The ILO’s governing body had determined last November that the complaint was “receivable”, agency chief Gilbert Houngbo told reporters.

Unpaid wages, shoddy housing and hours of toil in life-threatening heat are common grievances for migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

Rights groups warn that a pending construction boom — for stadiums for the 2034 World Cup and other large-scale projects — could expose many more people to such exploitation.

The FIFA Congress formally approved Riyadh’s bid last month, and Saudi authorities have unveiled plans to construct more than a dozen new stadiums, which labour unions say will easily require manpower in the hundreds of thousands.

Houngbo refused to discuss the substance of the case, but said that statements made by Saudi Arabia to the governing body and in bilateral conversations about the issue had been “very constructive”.

“The authorities have told me that they really want to work with ILO,” he said, and if “deficits” are found, they had said “they are ready to work and correct them”.

But, he stressed, “the proof is in the pudding”.

Saudi Arabia will respond and then a committee will examine the complaint, the ILO said, but “for the moment no date can be given”.

Houngbo said he himself would be travelling to Riyadh in two weeks, and said discussions were underway with the authorities to increase ILO’s presence in the country.