In June of 2025, Saudi Arabia announced its decision to abolish the Kafala system. This announcement forms part of the Saudi Vision 2030 Initiative, and claims to replace the previous sponsorship framework with a contractual employment model, better reflecting modern labour standards. If implemented appropriately, this decision would represent a significant development in human rights afforded to migrant workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, there have been several instances of promises being made to abolish the system which have resulted in no changes being made.

The Kafala system was established in Saudi Arabia in the 1950s and has since provided a basis for the relationship between migrant workers and Saudi employers through a sponsorship framework. Widely used in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the state issues sponsorship permits to local private individuals or companies, through which they employ foreign workers. This system has been used as it allows for unregulated and cost-effective labour, largely contributing to Saudi Arabia’s economic rise whilst workers are left with no protection afforded through labor law. Altogether, this results in sponsors having full control over the workers’ employment and residency status. This means that workers are exposed to exploitative working conditions, and their contracts can only be terminated by sponsors, limiting their capacity to find new employment. Furthermore, workers often have their passports confiscated and consequently require permission from the sponsors to enter and exit the host country.

As a United Nations member state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is required to uphold universal principles of human rights. Despite not having ratified several crucial human rights treaties, Saudi Arabia has human rights obligations, including the norms of customary international law outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Under 23(1) of the UDHR workers have the right to “just and favourable conditions of work”, which the Kafala system has repeatedly failed to ensure. Numerous accounts from migrant workers report being severely overworked, and being subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse carried out by their sponsors. Furthermore, the sponsorship framework creates dynamics of ownership and restricted freedoms which reflect the conditions of slavery, which are explicitly prohibited under Article 4 of the UDHR. It is common practice under the Kafala system for sponsors to delay the wages and confiscate the passports of their workers, resulting in de facto forced labour.

This decision could mark an economic and social turning point for Saudi Arabia, provided it is implemented. 13 million migrant workers – constituting 42% of the total population – would experience significant improvements in their working and living conditions. Increased worker freedom and contractual transparency would also benefit the wider Saudi Arabian labor market, likely attracting new international labor, raising the quality of worker output, and creating a more balanced labor market amongst nationals and expatriates alike.

The decision to abolish the Kafala system can be a monumental shift towards protecting migrant workers rights in GCC countries. However, this decision must be followed by commitment and evidence of a new framework being instituted. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made several promises in the past to replace the sponsorship framework, despite implementing few actual measures to do so. As a result, several international experts have highly encouraged monitoring mechanisms to be put into place to ensure that the Saudi decision is upheld and respected.

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This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.