A new Op-ed from MRRORS – the Migrant Rights Research Open Repository – a member of WIMN
14 April 2026
Every new crisis seems to strengthen the chokehold of the Kafala system on labour migration
On 28 February 2026, in the middle of Ramadan, even as negotiations facilitated by Oman were underway, the US-Israel coalition launched an attack on Iran, which the latter has claimed was made using various US bases in the GCC states. Since then, economic and civilian sites have also come under widespread attack by Iran in the GCC. Israel, meanwhile, escalated its war on Lebanon, killing hundreds and displacing thousands of others. Caught in the crossfire are migrants, with those in lower-income sectors facing greater vulnerabilities.
At the best of times, the Kafala system and its provisions render migrant workers – especially low-wage earners – vulnerable to extreme exploitation and severely dependent on their employers/kafeels for survival. In times of crises, this vulnerability is exacerbated: something we have seen time and again. Six years ago, the global pandemic affected workers around the world, and in the GCC states it was particularly migrants who bore the brunt as their living and working conditions were at odds with the mandates of the emergency public health policies.
The ongoing war and escalation targeting GCC states seems a pandemic redux many times over. The near impunity with which the latest phase of the genocide of Palestinians has been carried out has given the US-Israel hegemony unbridled ambition to wage an unwarranted, expansionist war – finding new targets and victims. The GCC states have always been seen as a safe region – barring personal freedoms. Only Kuwait has witnessed any form of military aggression in recent history.
While many lower-income workers are used to long hours in harness, gruelling heat, inadequate pay and labour without dignity, what no one signed up or prepared for was missile interceptions and drone attacks, with incessant sirens as the backdrop to their workday, facing their worst fears while making food deliveries, and the myriad other ways in which their lives and livelihoods have been impacted.
According to Human Rights Watch, “As of March 25, conflict-related deaths in Gulf countries have included migrant workers, among them a Pakistani driver, a Nepali security guard, and a Bangladeshi water-tanker driver, according to media and official government reporting. Others have been injured.”
These numbers are likely to grow if the war restarts on full scale again: casualties of war where no one person is held accountable, but some form of compensation may be provided. But there are also larger numbers of unnamed casualties of war: those whose services are quickly rendered redundant, albeit temporarily, or whose loss of wages has a deeper impact across borders, affecting families dependent on remittance for survival…