About two years ago, I wrote a post about the Saudi government’s plan to abolish its infamous sponsorship system (kafala), which has been constantly criticised by human rights groups. The plan to cancel the system was immediately welcomed by many people. However, two years have passed and nothing came out from it. In the beginning of this year, it was announced that the possibility of cancelling the sponsorship system had been ruled out. The government argued that it’s not easyRead more
Who have never heard of a Saudi royal by the name of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal? If you're not familiar with his name, let me give you a brief introduction about him. Prince Alwaleed is the nephew of the current King of Saudi Arabia and the grandson of the founding King of Saudi Arabia. He was born to Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz and his Lebanese wife. Although the father has been trying to push for reform in his country (andRead more
I have final exams and assignments in the next few weeks, but I just can’t resist writing about this ad campaign. The campaign is called Rahma which means mercy in Arabic. The main purpose of this campaign is to raise public awareness of mistreatments of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. The campaign itself has been going on since the mid of November 2008 on Saudi-owned satellite TV — MBC channel (watched by millions across the Middle East), but I honestlyRead more
For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking very closely at the news regarding the plan to abolish the infamous Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship (kafalah) system. The system, which has also been implemented in the Gulf countries for years, defines a number of laws for the employers and their employees (in this case migrant workers). It was made in such a way so that the person who recruits the worker takes full responsibility for them, including paying a salary, obtaining aRead more
