Link to Researchers
Vlieger, Antoinette. Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates: a Socio-legal Study on Conflicts. Hugo Sinzhemimer Institute. 2011. Link to PDF
Keyword: domestic workers, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, socio legal, conflict
From the perspective of sociology of law, This thesis discusses the factors that impact the conflicts between female, migrant, domestic workers and their employers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The research finds that while some employers might treat their domestic workers fairly, others trap them in the country. The research finding replies on quantitive and qualitative methodology to address the question.
Halabi, Romina. "Contract Enslavement of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." Human Rights & Human Welfare. Link to PDF
Keyword: female, women, migrants, gender, domestic workers, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, protection, labor rights
This brief report provides an overview of the surge of migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It address the human rights abuses and dire living conditions that face migrant workers throughout the recruitment and employment periods, as well as avenues for protection.
Degorge, Barbara. "Modern Day Slavery in the United Arab Emirates." European Legacy 11.6 (2006): 657-666. Link to Article
Keyword: Slavery, Kalafa system, UAE, modern slavery
This paper explores three forms of slavery in the UAE, the exploitation of children, sexual enslavement of women and the migrant workers who enslave themselves. The author compares the data on modern day slavery to the history of this ancient institution and to the current definition of slavery conceding that there needs to be greater awareness of the scope and nature of slavery to abolish it.
Mahdavi, Pardis. "'Trafficking' Parenting: Migration, Motherhood, Forced Labor, and Deportability in the United Arab Emirates." Middle East Law and Governance 5.1 (2013): 173-194. Link to Article
Keyword: trafficking, migration, motherhood, women, female, forced labor, UAE, parenthood, pregnancy, host country
This paper, first, explores the role of parenthood in the lives of migrant women in the context of human trafficking; second, looking at how becoming a parent in the host country structures a discourse and series of actions that can lead migrant women into trafficking-like situations. The mythology of this study is based on four years of ethnographic research in the UAE between 2007-2011 contrasting women's experiences of parenthood while in Duabi and Abu Dhabi with discourses about migrant women's bodies, sexualities and reproduction capabilities.
Mahdavi, Paradis . "Gender, Labour, and the Law: the Nexus of Domestic Work, Human Trafficking, and the Informal Economy in the United Arab Emirates." Global Networks 13.4 (2013): 425-441. Link to Article
Keyword: gender, female, women, labor, migrants, law, legal, domestic work, human trafficking, informal, economy, UAE
The article documents the movement of women from formal economy of domestic care to the informal sector of sex work. Following an ethnographic fieldwork with women migrants in the UAE on trafficking, domestic work and gendered migration in the UAE, the author explores the three main findings of the research. First, sex work and domestic work are not mutually exclusive; second, sex work is preferred to domestic work for better working conditions; third, policies on human trafficking that aims at restricting female migration have pushed women to seek employment in the informal economy.
Keane, David and Nicholas McGeehan. "Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates." International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 15.1 (2008): 81-115. Link to PDF
Keyword: migrant, workers, human rights, UAE, slavery, bonded labor, international law, national law
This article provides an analysis of the failure to protect migrant workers' rights in the UAE on a domestic and international scale. The author outlines abuses against workers, the failure of domestic legislation to readdress it, as well as violations of international human rights law. The author argues that the UAE's exploitation of migrant labor is bonded labor and that domestic labor provisions in the UAE will not be sufficient to address the issue because of the de facto control of the private sector by the public sector.
K.C, Zachariah, B.A. Prakash, and S. Irudaya Rajan. "The Impact of Immigration Policy on Indian Contract Migrants: The Case of the United Arab Emirates." International Migration 41.4 (2003): 161-173. Link to Article
Keyword: immigration, policy, Indian contract migrants, UAE
This paper examines the immigration policies of the UAE and the implications of these policies on Indian contract workers.
Lori, Noora. "National Security and the Management of Migrant Labour: A Case Study of the United Arab Emirates." Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 20.3/4 (2011): 315-337. (Summary adapted from resource) Link to Article
Keyword: national security, management, migrant labor, policy, UAE, policy
This article explores the main institutional developments in the UAE within the past twenty years assessing, in particular, how the security apparatus is deployed by the state for managing the criminal and cultural impact of expatriates on the national body politic. Within this context, the author focuses on the different agencies of the UAE's Ministry of Interior roles in responding to the demographic changes and in developing preemptive policing strategies that include community policing, extensive surveillance network and increasingly individualized and standardized forms of identification.
Caplin, Jessica. "Mirage in the Desert Oasis: Forced Labor in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates." Harvard International Review 30.4 (2009): 28-33. Link to Article
Keyword: forced labor, Dubai, UAE, desert oasis, mirage
This article focuses on the issue of trafficking and forced labor in the UAE, and how the two phenomena converge. The author traces this trend from recruitment to employment arguing that the labor involved in developing the UAE is forced, trafficked labor.
Shah, Nasra N. "Restrictive Labour Immigration Policies in the oil-rich Gulf: Effectiveness and Implications for sending Asian countries." Link to Article
Keyword: labor, immigration, policies, oil-rich, gulf, Asia, sending, development
An overview of the GCC's immigration policies and the implications of immigration on sending Asian countries is examined in this paper.