Gulf migrant workers fear for their post-pandemic future

"This pandemic has both exposed decades of systematic racial discrimination and deepened the suffering of migrant workers who have long faced exploitation and abuse under the Gulf states’ various kafala systems," says Hiba Zayadi, Human Rights Watch's Gulf researcher.

Hassan is a migrant worker from Bangladesh currently working and living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He shares a one-bedroom flat with 11 people, all under quarantine after one of his flatmates was tested positive for COVID-19 after a visit to the hospital following a cough and a high fever.

Hassan states that the police visited that evening and placed the building under quarantine. Two days later, a doctor came to test the entire building and, another three days later, Hassan discovered that he and four other flatmates had also tested positive.

English | May 18, 2020

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