On June 23, 2025, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) and partner organizations delivered an intervention during the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. During their intervention under Item 3, in the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, ADHRB called for an end to the kafala system that fuels labor trafficking in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report on the risks of trafficking faced by migrant domestic workers, particularly women and children. However, we remain concerned about the kafala system’s role in facilitating such abuse in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Despite reforms, the kafala system still binds migrant workers to their employers, enabling forced labor and exploitation deemed modern-day slavery. Domestic workers are particularly vulnerable. Excluded from labor protection, they endure grueling hours in unregulated, abusive homes where employers confiscate their passports and control their ability to leave or change jobs. Even those who escape face such risks due to their lack of legal status and support. Single mothers are especially trapped as their children are denied birth certificates and exit visas.
As the Palermo Protocol affirms, restrictive systems like kafala facilitate trafficking and must be dismantled. Given the elusive nature of domestic work, we ask the Rapporteur: What measures can be taken to effectively pressure Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to dismantle the kafala system and support migrant women and their children?
