Context of migration in Saudi Arabia
The context of migration in Saudi Arabia is shaped by a complex mix of economic needs, labor dynamics, social policies, and geopolitical factors. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest destinations for migrant workers in the Middle East, with 39 percent of international migrants comprising the total population. Its reliance on foreign labor has grown significantly, with millions of foreign nationals working across various sectors in the country.
Among the key aspects of migration in Saudi Arabia, it is essential to recognize that the country’s economy has long relied on migrant labor, with migrants constituting a significant portion of the workforce. Migration patterns are largely driven by the demand for labor in the Saudi economy as well as the country’s economic development plans, such as the Vision 2030 initiative. The pandemic and global economic shifts have also impacted migration patterns, with some migrant workers losing their jobs and being repatriated.
The majority of migrants are employed in sectors like agriculture, cleaning, and domestic services, where the demand for unskilled labor is high. The status of foreign workers often varies based on their country of origin: individuals from Arab and Western nations typically occupy the highest positions not filled by Saudis, while lower-ranking jobs are predominantly held by people from Africa and Southeast Asia who seek a better life in Saudi Arabia.
Migrant labor is regulated by the Kafala system, a sponsorship-based employment framework prevalent in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Under this system, migrant workers are fully dependent on their employers, who have significant control over their legal status, including their ability to change jobs, leave the country, or even retain their passports. Migrants face significant challenges in terms of legal protections, social integration, and human rights, which make it difficult for many of them to live and work in the country with dignity and security.
In addition to legal labor migration, Saudi Arabia also experiences irregular migration, with migrants seeking better economic opportunities without legal work permits. These migrants face arbitrary detention, deportation, and exploitation.
There have been efforts by the Saudi government to address some of the systemic issues facing migrant workers. The country has introduced new labor laws, but they have proven inadequate, and enforcement of these regulations remains a challenge, leaving migrant workers to continue facing severe human rights abuses.
Discrimination Against Migrant Workers
Saudi Arabia counts a vast migrant workforce of 13.4 million people, who currently face exploitative living and working conditions. The main cause of these abuses is Saudi Arabia’s Kafala system, which emerged in the Gulf countries in the early 20th century to manage foreign labor in the pearl industry. However, it ultimately gave employers excessive power over migrants’ mobility and legal status in the country. The sponsorship system has been widely criticized for contributing to exploitation, abuse, and human trafficking, and for fostering power imbalances and discrimination based on nationality and social status, as migrant workers often suffer from harsher conditions and ill-treatment.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan heavily relies on migrant workers, who have suffered from abusive conditions, including widespread wage theft, unsafe working conditions, intimidation, debt bondage, and restricted movement. Employers’ control is also evident in terms of legal protections, wages, and working and living conditions. Migrant workers risk passport confiscation, forced confinement, physical abuse, and are prevented from benefiting from welfare assistance or political participation.
Many migrant workers also incur debts to pay recruitment fees, which can lead to a cycle of exploitation as they struggle to repay these debts while working under precarious conditions. Thus, the sponsorship system has enabled forced labor and systemic discrimination against migrant workers.
In March 2021, Saudi authorities implemented the Labor Reform Initiative, aimed at easing restrictions and allowing migrant workers to change jobs without employers’ consent in certain situations. However, the reforms primarily focused on private sector workers and excluded the most vulnerable and least protected migrant workers—such as domestic staff, personal drivers, farmers, security guards, and shepherds—from labor law protection reforms.
While Saudi Arabia introduced new labor laws in October 2023, explicitly banning passport confiscation, setting maximum working hours, and introducing health and safety regulations, the impact on domestic workers’ lives remains uncertain. The law fails to address the issue of a minimum wage for domestic workers, leaving a key gap in worker protections. The reforms’ effectiveness will depend on proper enforcement. Additionally, the reforms failed to fully dismantle the Kafala system, which, in some cases, still allows wage theft and migrant workers’ dependency on their sponsors for job changes and travel, as well as for entry, residence, and employment in the country.
There are also periods of missingness that occur during employment and imprisonment. While employed, migrant workers often work long hours with partial or no payment, lose contact with their families, and experience restricted freedoms or abuse. They also risk being arrested if deemed irregular migrants and detained in Saudi prisons for indefinite periods before being deported. While detained, they are held incommunicado, separated from their belongings, family members, and any money they have earned or saved.
Despite discriminating against migrants and violating their rights, Saudi Arabia has made significant investments to divert attention from its poor human rights record, both domestically and internationally. It has spent billions hosting major entertainment, cultural, and sports events to whitewash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 projects, such as the futuristic NEOM city and the 2034 World Cup, will rely heavily on a migrant construction workforce that remains poorly protected under the country’s labor laws.
Discrimination against East African migrants
Saudi Arabia’s population of 35 million includes an estimated 10 million migrant workers from Asia, Africa, and the Arab region, employed across a range of sectors, including construction, hospitality, and domestic work. These sectors are particularly where migrant workers face the greatest risks of forced labor.
The fact that the reforms to the Kafala system exclude certain sectors suggests that Saudi Arabia has intentionally targeted a specific segment of the population, deliberately leaving them without the benefits of these changes. This situation particularly affects migrants from East African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as from Yemen. Most East African migrants seek to reach Gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, in search of better quality of life and higher-income job opportunities. Approximately 750,000 Ethiopians live and work in Saudi Arabia, and over the last decade, the irregular movement of refugees and migrants from Ethiopia to Yemen has averaged around 100,000 people every year. Most of these migrants travel through the Eastern migration route, which involves a perilous journey from Ethiopia to Yemen via Djibouti and Somalia, before crossing into Saudi Arabia. Others arrive in Saudi Arabia on work permits, typically by plane.
While many migrate for economic reasons, others flee serious human rights abuses in their home countries, including the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia. Migrants fleeing conflict and human rights abuses face dangerous journeys, often marked by exploitation from smugglers and trafficking networks. Once they reach Yemen, the armed groups plays a significant role in abusing Ethiopian migrants, detaining them under harsh conditions, extorting bribes, and subjecting them to other forms of mistreatment. Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, these migrants are at constant risk of exploitation and violence by their employers due to the prevailing Kafala system. They also risk dying from neglect while detained in centers awaiting deportation.
Saudi Arabia detains migrants with deportation orders, primarily those who have entered the country unlawfully or overstayed their permits, the majority of whom are Ethiopian nationals. These individuals are held in poorly maintained detention facilities known as deportation centers.
It is deeply concerning that many East African migrants fleeing abuse or conflict in their home countries then face harassment and abuse by their Saudi employers and the additional risk of being sent to detention centers and deported, without any proper investigation into the abuses they have endured.
Conditions in the Detention Centers
The country has regularly conducted operations against undocumented migrant workers, including significant arrest initiatives in November 2013 and August 2017. Among those targeted, Ethiopians faced prolonged detention compared to migrants from other nationalities. According to a report by Amnesty International, since 2017, Saudi authorities have arbitrarily imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants, either crossing the border from Yemen or residing in Saudi Arabia, as part of efforts to suppress undocumented migration.
In March 2022, the governments of Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia agreed to repatriate more than 100,000 Ethiopians who were residing irregularly in the country. Many of these migrants had been held in detention centers under cruel conditions, subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and were forcibly returned to Ethiopia.
Most of the migrants who were arrested received no information about the reasons for their detention or the duration of their imprisonment. The arbitrary arrests and inhumane treatment were largely motivated by the migrants’ lack of residency documents or work permits—situations that are facilitated by the abusive kafala system. Additionally, the duration of imprisonment was undefined: while some detainees were held for only a few days, others endured months or even years in detention before being deported. Throughout this process, the human rights of the migrants were routinely violated.
In 2019, Human Rights Watch documented around 10 prisons and detention facilities in Saudi Arabia where migrants were held in overcrowded, unhygienic, and abusive conditions, with inadequate access to food, water, and health care. Interviews with former detainees revealed that overcrowding was severe, with some cells intended for 60 people holding 200 to 400 detainees. The extreme conditions led to serious medical issues, including physical ailments such as tuberculosis and other infections, as well as psychological trauma linked to gender-based violence, suspected rape, and respiratory conditions like pneumonia. Many detainees with serious health issues, including respiratory problems and skin diseases, were denied timely medical care.
Amnesty International also reported on the detention of pregnant women and infants, highlighting overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, with mothers and young children forced to lie on the floor. The lack of proper medical support is particularly concerning, given that many undocumented migrant workers who are incarcerated have become pregnant due to rape during their journey to Saudi Arabia or sexual abuse by employers within the country.
Cases of torture and mistreatment by detention center guards were also documented. Victims were beaten and subjected to extreme heat, which in some cases resulted in skin injuries. These abuses were often a form of punishment for actions such as sharing their detention conditions on social media, boycotting meals, or refusing medical care. Detainees also reported that at least 10 of their Ethiopian cellmates died while in custody between April 2021 and May 2022 due to poor health resulting from torture and lack of medical attention. Saudi authorities failed not only to identify or prosecute those responsible for these deaths but also made no effort to register, identify, or repatriate the bodies of deceased migrants.
Other testimonies described the severe impact of detention conditions on Ethiopian migrants’ mental and physical health, as well as the significant challenges they faced upon re-integration into Ethiopian society. These challenges included social isolation, health issues, and mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
Deportation of Ethiopian migrants
In 2017, the Saudi Arabian government initiated a major airlift operation to repatriate irregular migrants to their home countries as part of efforts to reduce unemployment within the kingdom. Many irregular migrants have been arrested and subsequently deported back to their home countries, especially to Ethiopia, due to the large number of Ethiopian migrants. In 2022, IOM registered 93,500 Ethiopian returnees, an 18% increase compared to 2021.
Human Rights Watch condemned the deportation of thousands of Tigrayan migrants from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia after they were unlawfully detained for months or even years in both formal and informal detention facilities across the Kingdom. The Tigrayan migrants were brutally tortured while being unjustly imprisoned before being forcibly deported. They endured overcrowding, beatings, and poor sanitary conditions, with inadequate food, water, and medical care. Such deplorable conditions for migrants have been a longstanding issue in Saudi Arabia.
According to IOM, between 2017 and 2022, around half a million migrants were expelled from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia solely due to their irregular immigration status. Saudi police arrested irregular migrants from their homes, workplaces, or public spaces, and sent them to detention centers such as Al-Kharj or Al-Shumaisi, where they remained for over a year without charges or the opportunity to challenge their confinement.
Once resettled in Ethiopia, the situation for Tigrayan migrants did not improve. They faced arbitrary detention and torture by Ethiopian authorities, who cooperated with Saudi Arabia. Thus, Saudi Arabia contributed to the abuse by continuing the deportation of Tigrayans to Ethiopia, where they faced the risk of persecution. Another issue is the lack of resources and shelters in Ethiopia, which prevents returnees from returning to their homes, reuniting with their families, or finding adequate accommodations.
This rapid and unprepared repatriation process has resulted in slow and inadequate reintegration efforts. Most returnees face significant challenges due to their status, as they have spent their earnings on living costs and remittances. Many also suffered extreme hardships during their time in Saudi Arabia and upon their return, leading to various medical and psychological issues.
Many migrants are mentally traumatized by their experiences, and the physical consequences are severe. Health issues are consistent with widespread reports of abuse and deprivation, including sexually transmitted infections in women who were raped, and physical injuries from smuggler violence, such as broken bones and permanent disabilities.
Treatment of East African Migrants Crossing the Border
The Eastern route, the border strip between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, is one of the most dangerous journeys for migrants. It is a militarized war zone, involving various armed actors such as the Saudi/UAE-led military intervention and Yemen.
Despite the dangers, this route has been used by migrants from the Horn of Africa for years. Most migrants are of Ethiopian nationality, making up more than 90% of those arriving in the Gulf. They are initially driven to migrate due to a lack of employment and poor economic conditions, and later forced to leave their country after deadly conflict in Ethiopia targeted Tigrayans. Nearly 31% of Ethiopian migrants traveled to Saudi Arabia, and the migration was largely irregular, with migrants relying on a network of smugglers, which made them vulnerable on this dangerous route.
Along the Eastern route, migrants face numerous abuses, including killings, torture, arbitrary detention, gender-based violence, exploitation, looting, and extortion. They may also encounter indirect dangers, such as airstrikes and landmines. Once in Yemen, migrant gathering points become hotspots for these violations. Yemen allows African migrants to pass through areas it controls on their way to Saudi Arabia, but it occasionally carries out arrests and forced deportations of migrants, violating the principle of non-refoulement.
When attempting to cross the border into Saudi Arabia, Saudi authorities have been criticized for their ill-treatment, discrimination, and intentional targeting of African migrants. Saudi border guard units (SBGU) commonly block the paths of African and Yemeni migrants by patrolling with security vehicles and using CCTV towers equipped with surveillance devices and thermal imaging cameras.
In October 2022, several UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups issued a communication highlighting allegations of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire allegedly perpetrated by Saudi security forces. These actions are believed to have caused the deaths of up to 430 migrants and injured 650 between January 1 and April 30, 2022.
In 2023, Human Rights Watch condemned the killing of at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers by Saudi border guards. These migrants tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023. Human Rights Watch analyzed numerous videos and photographs documenting the migrants’ conditions on the trails, in camps, and in medical facilities, as well as the increasing Saudi border security infrastructure. The organization documented a systematic and widespread pattern of violence, including the use of explosive weapons and targeted shootings, which, if part of government policy, could constitute a crime against humanity. Many victims included women and children, and survivors described horrific abuses, such as being asked which limb they preferred to be shot.
According to the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), Saudi border authorities continued to fire indiscriminately at Ethiopian and Yemeni migrants crossing the Saudi border with Yemen in 2023 and 2024, with no significant response from the international community.
In addition to the dangers of dying from neglect or exhaustion while trying to enter the country or being shot at by Saudi border guards, reports indicate that East African migrants also face the risk of abuse or even murder by their employers, or may die from neglect in one of the detention centers.
Violations of International Law
International law, especially international human rights law, promises to protect everyone globally. However, the reality for migrants seeking protection in Saudi Arabia highlights significant flaws in the country’s commitment. Migrants’ experiences in Saudi Arabia and while crossing the border expose its poor human rights record, particularly regarding foreign migrants from East Africa.
Saudi Arabia is required to adhere to the core principles of international humanitarian law, which prohibit acts of violence, torture, or cruel treatment against individuals, regardless of their status, including migrants. Furthermore, all persons, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or legal status, must be treated equally under international humanitarian standards.
The fact that Saudi Arabia has not ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families does not lessen its binding responsibilities under international humanitarian law, nor does it reduce the seriousness of the violations committed against migrants.
The automatic use of migration-related detention is arbitrary. There must be a presumption against such detention, as any deprivation of liberty must be clearly authorized by law and justified by a legitimate, proportionate, and non-discriminatory purpose. Therefore, prolonged detention without access to judicial review is considered arbitrary and violates international law. It also constitutes deliberate abuse of migrants and asylum seekers, including targeting them with close-range attacks at the border.
Cruel and inhumane treatment, medical neglect, and subsequent deaths in custody violate the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners—the so-called Nelson Mandela Rules—which guarantee detainees basic rights such as adequate living conditions, access to healthcare, food, and hygiene.
Due to indefinite arbitrary detention under abusive conditions and the lack of legal process to contest their detention, many detained migrants are left in precarious conditions and feel compelled to return to Ethiopia.
This coercive policy allowed Saudi authorities to forcibly send Ethiopians to a country where they risk facing persecution or torture again. This act violates international law, specifically the principle of non-refoulement, to which Saudi Arabia is bound. Non-refoulement ensures that no one should be returned to a country where they would face human rights violations.
Although international law prohibits the detention of children for migration-related reasons, Amnesty International reported that pregnant women, mothers with their children, and unaccompanied minors were held in Al-Shumaisi and Al-Kharj detention centers. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory, states that children should not be detained and that such actions cannot be justified by the migration status of the children or their parents.
Another violation of international obligations is the direct targeting of migrants through aerial and ground attacks carried out by Saudi security forces. The excessive use of firearms to stop migrants from crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border breaches the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its related protocols, especially the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which obliges states to provide necessary protection to victims of human trafficking.
Conclusion
The migration context in Saudi Arabia is complex and evolving. Migrants play a critical role in the country’s economy, but their legal and social status leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Significant challenges persist, particularly with regard to the Kafala system and the ill-treatment of migrant workers, who risk killings, arbitrary detention, deportation, torture, and various other forms of inhumane and degrading treatment.
The labor reforms introduced by the Saudi government have failed to dismantle the Kafala system, leaving workers still vulnerable to the control and exploitation of their employers. Specifically, the reforms have excluded certain categories of workers, such as those in the construction, hospitality, and domestic work sectors, exacerbating inequality and discrimination within the system.
In this regard, the report highlights how the sponsorship system disproportionately affects East African workers, including Ethiopians, Kenyans, and Yemenis. These migrants face discrimination, forced labor, and the risk of arbitrary detention and forced deportation if their residency permits are deemed expired.
Despite the serious violations carried out in detention centers, no effective investigations into these deaths have been conducted, and gaps in the implementation and enforcement of laws persist, leaving perpetrators unaccountable. At the same time, the lack of an international response has allowed Saudi Arabia to carry out these abuses without facing consequences.
In light of the violations of migrant workers’ rights in Saudi Arabia, several recommendations are proposed for both the Saudi government and the international community.
First, the Kingdom should abolish the Kafala system to end migrant workers’ dependency on their employers and reduce their vulnerability. This would improve their rights and protections. Additionally, labor reforms should be introduced to cover all migrant workers and sectors.
Second, the authorities must ensure equal access to legal protections and fair trials for all individuals, and end arbitrary imprisonment. Detention facilities should adhere to international standards, such as the Nelson Mandela Rules, guaranteeing humane conditions, including access to doctors, food, water, hygiene, and adequate monitoring to prevent mistreatment. For migrants who have been arbitrarily detained, Saudi authorities should release those who have not been lawfully imprisoned or who have not had a judge legally determine the charges or necessity of their detention.
Regarding the migrant rights abuses within Saudi Arabia and along the border with Yemen, there is currently no international mechanism to monitor the situation, leaving perpetrators unaccountable. Saudi Arabia should immediately revoke any policies that allow the deliberate use of force against migrants and asylum seekers, and hold perpetrators accountable through fair trials that meet international standards. The government should also launch independent investigations into deaths, torture, and other ill-treatment in detention centers, and improve the inhumane conditions across the country’s detention facilities.
When addressing the harm inflicted on Yemenis, negotiations for a new truce in Yemen could present an opportunity to restore measures that would stop the abuse of migrants crossing the border. The report also calls for greater international attention to protect migrants at the border and prosecute those responsible for mistreatment, including Saudi officials. To do so, a UN-backed monitoring and reporting system should be established to assess the human rights situation of migrants in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia should cease holding ethnic Tigrayans in inhumane conditions and instead cooperate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure their international protection and facilitate their resettlement as refugees. In this regard, the Government of Ethiopia should provide protection and reintegration plans for returning migrants.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia should hold employers accountable for any violations of migrant workers’ rights and dismiss prison authorities who torture and abuse detainees. Institutions responsible for monitoring and investigating complaints of torture and ill-treatment must be fully independent and impartial.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia must stop contributing to Ethiopia’s abuse of migrants by ending the forced return of Tigrayans, who face the risk of persecution in Ethiopia. Instead, Saudi authorities should facilitate the resettlement of those seeking asylum or resettlement in third countries.
Finally, the report calls on third countries that export arms to Saudi Arabia to suspend any transfers of weapons or other military equipment to the country, in order to leverage respect for human rights. Additionally, there should be increased pressure on Saudi Arabia to end violations of international law and ratify both the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Covenant on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
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