ROMA – Migrant workers employed in Saudi Arabian facilities franchised by French retail giant Carrefour were deceived by recruitment agents, forced to work excessive shifts, denied rest days and withheld wages, and were forced to live in squalid accommodation with the constant fear of being fired if they protested or refused to work overtime. This is what he reported Amnesty International in a new one relationship on the exploitation of migrant labor in Saudi Arabia.
Human trafficking is also involved. The treatment suffered by some of the workers likely constitutes forced labor and also includes human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation. Yet, neither the Gruppo Carrefour nor his partner Majid Al Futtaimwhich operates franchises in Saudi Arabia, have taken steps to stop such practices or offer compensation.
The responsibilities at stake. “The Carrefour has a clear responsibility, according to the standards of international human rights law – says Marta Schaaf, director of the program responsibility of companies Of Amnesty International – to ensure that such events do not occur in its operations, including franchising ones. We are talking, at least in some cases, about forced labor and human trafficking.”
Withholding of wages and forced labor. Amnesty International published its report two weeks before the International Labor Organization is due to review a report on 7 November. complaint against the government of Saudi Arabia about the withholding of wages, forced labor and the ban on forming trade unions. The complaint was brought by the global union Building and wood workers‘ international in June 2024 and is supported by Amnesty International and other organizations.
Deceived, forced to work too much and underpaid. The search for Amnesty International follows a 2023 report into the exploitation of migrant labor at Amazon’s facilities in Saudi Arabia – a report that implicated an employment agency itself – after which Amazon paid out more than $1.9 million to reimburse expenses of recruitment supported by over 700 workers.
Interviews with 17 men from Nepal. The current one was based on interviews and information provided by 17 men from Nepal, India and Pakistan. From 2021 to 2024 they worked in Carrefour facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Almost all of them had been hired by employment agencies and contracted by Majid Al Futtaim.
$1,200 to secure work for intermediaries. To secure their jobs, the 17 men paid agents in their home states an average of $1,200, often using high-interest loans, even though such practices have been outlawed in Saudi Arabia and prohibited by Majid Al’s own policies Futtaim.
The deception of recruiting agents. Almost all the workers interviewed were deceived by agents or at least received misleading information, sometimes with the involvement of employment agencies, on the nature and benefits of their employment in Saudi Arabia or were made to believe that they would be hired directly by international companies . Many, after having advanced agents sums that they would no longer be able to recover, discovered that they would be hired by Saudi agencies, which are notoriously hostile to workers.
20 km a day and 16 hours of work a day. Once they arrived in Saudi Arabia, the men found themselves carrying out strenuous jobs, regularly underpaid. They had to walk over 20 kilometers every day and work 60 hours a week, in some cases up to 16 hours a day, especially during commercial boom periods, such as discount weeks or the month of Ramadan. In violation of both Saudi laws and the rules of the Majid Al Futtaim, they had their rest days canceled by supermarket and warehouse managers.
The testimony of Anand, a warehouse worker. “In Carrefour stores, workers are not treated like human beings, but like animals. They keep telling us ‘yallah, yallah’ (‘quick, quick’). They hold on to their shirts to make us work quickly.” The hardest experience was not being paid adequately for overtime hours, as required by Saudi law and company policies: dozens of hours of overtime a month for a missed payment of hundreds of dollars a year.
In the accommodation there were 6-8 people sleeping per room. The accommodation provided to the workers was often dirty and overcrowded, contrary to Majid Al Futtaim’s policies: workers slept six to eight in a room, described by one of them as “a cowshed”.
A widespread climate of fear. Anyone who dared to protest to Carrefour managers was ignored or told that they should contact the employment agency. Some suffered reprisals from agencies or directly from Carrefour managers, others remained to suffer in silence. Majid Al Futtaim responded to Amnesty International that retaliatory actions against those who make a “good faith complaint” are prohibited, but workers reported that if they resisted overtime, they were threatened with dismissal or withholding employment. paid.
Forced labor. According to workers interviewed by Amnesty Internationalthe two main characteristics of forced labor – working against one’s will and the threat of sanctions – are present in the Carrefour Group’s franchising operations in Saudi Arabia.
Carrefour talks about responsibility and commitment. Although the policies of the Carrefour Group affirm the responsibilities and commitment to respect the standards of international human rights law also through franchisees and suppliers, the search for Amnesty International demonstrates that the procedures of due diligence are wholly inadequate, even though the severity and prevalence of violations of workers’ rights, including forced labor, are well documented in Saudi Arabia. “The high risk of exploitation in Saudi Arabia – added Schaaf – highlights the undeniable need for fundamental reforms in the labor system in that country.
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