Kathmandu, 21 October, Amnesty International has reported that migrant workers hired on contracts at Carrefour in Saudi Arabia have been cheated by recruitment agents, made to work excessively long hours, and denied leave. This issue was highlighted in a new report released by Amnesty International. Carrefour is a French retail company, and various countries have outlets operating with its permission.

The report titled “I was afraid to go to work: Labor exploitation in Carrefour workplaces in Saudi Arabia” reveals how workers are compelled to stay in dirty accommodation. The report mentions that workers face the threat of dismissal if they complain about working extra hours or refuse to do so.

Amnesty claims that despite the exploitation amounting to human trafficking or forced labor for labor exploitation, Carrefour Group and its partner company Majid Al Futtaim, which operates the franchise in Saudi Arabia, have not taken steps to address it.

Amnesty has stated that Carrefour has not shown the necessary urgency to stop the severe exploitation and abuse faced by the migrant workers. Marta Schaaf, Director of Amnesty International’s Program for Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and Corporate Accountability, said that it is Carrefour’s responsibility to ensure that there is no abuse in the workplaces they and their franchises operate. She demanded that affected workers be immediately compensated and measures be put in place to ensure such exploitation never happens again.

After Amnesty International published a report in 2023 exposing abuses at Amazon sites in Saudi Arabia, Amazon compensated workers significantly. This latest report by Amnesty was released following the one about Amazon. It reveals that a labor supply company involved in the previous report is also implicated in this one.

This recent investigation is based on interviews and information from 17 men from Nepal, India, and Pakistan. They all worked at various Carrefour sites in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah between 2021 and 2024. Nearly all of them were employed by labor supply companies and contracted with Majid Al Futtaim.

To secure employment, workers paid recruitment agents in their home countries an average of $1,200, often taking high-interest loans to do so.  However, both Saudi law and Majid Al Futtaim’s policies prohibit charging these fees.

Most interviewed workers were misled by agents about the nature of labor and compensation in Saudi Arabia, sometimes involving the labor supply companies themselves. They were often deceived into believing they were directly hired by international companies. Many learned they would be employed by notorious Saudi supply companies only after paying recruitment fees and couldn’t reclaim their money, feeling trapped.

The report mentions these workers faced harsh labor conditions and consistently low pay in Saudi Arabia. They regularly walked more than 20 kilometers daily and worked up to 60 hours a week, sometimes laboring up to 16 hours a day during high business periods like salary weeks and the month of Ramadan. Violating Saudi law and Majid Al Futtaim’s policies, managers at supermarkets, warehouses, or dark stores occasionally canceled their weekly rest days.