Documenting the supply chains that turn human beings into disposable assets.
The System Explained
The global economy relies on Gulf petrochemicals, construction and logistics – industries powered almost entirely by migrant labour. Yet, this workforce operates under a legal apartheid known as the kafala system. While governments claim to have "abolished" or "reformed" it, the core mechanisms of control remain intact across all six GCC states.
We are analyzing the legal fine print that keeps workers trapped:
A migrant construction worker recounts how unpaid wages, confiscated documents and threats of criminal charges turned a promised job into slow, crushing entrapment.
In countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, "reform" often excludes vast categories of workers (such as domestic staff) or allows employers to block departure by filing spurious theft charges.
With no effective unions or access to courts, withholding pay is a risk-free strategy for contractors to manage cash flow.
Building the Case
Their Freedom aims to attack this system at three critical pressure points:
Mapping supply chains to prove that Western construction and hospitality brands are legally liable for the forced labour in their Gulf operations.
Compiling admissible evidence of illegal recruitment fees to support criminal prosecution of predatory agencies.
Collecting medical records and family testimonies to prove that heat stress and overwork are killing thousands of healthy young men, not “natural causes.”
Regional Reports: The State of Exploitation