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Good morning, distinguished Members of the Trade Committee. My name is Joey Shea and I am Human Rights Watch’s Saudi Arabia and UAE researcher. It would be impossible in the few minutes available to go through the human rights records of each GCC country – which do differ significantly. I will highlight some common threads just on labor rights and on repression of dissent, offer some specific examples, and conclude with recommendations on how the EU, including this Parliament, can help address some of those abuses, including in the context of ongoing negotiations for trade and partnership agreements.
On labor rights, Human Rights Watch has documented systematic violations against migrant workers in all six GCC countries. Under the kafala, or labor sponsorship, system throughout the region, migrant workers’ visas are tied to their employers, leaving workers vulnerable to wage abuse, employer exploitation, and situations that amount to forced labor. Countries in the GCC prohibit or severely restrict migrant workers from joining trade unions, and participating in collective bargaining or strikes. Systemic labor violations are effectively state policy in the Gulf countries and are deeply entrenched within the economies of the region.
Abuses against migrant workers in Qatar have been in the spotlight ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the same will be for Saudi Arabia ahead of EXPO 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup, unless urgent measures are taken.
Saudi Arabia did adopt several rounds of labor reforms, but its legal and regulatory framework is failing to address widespread abuses that originate from the kafala system that grants employers’ extensive control over workers’ lives.
In a recent report, we documented how scores of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia die in gruesome yet avoidable workplace-related accidents, including falling from buildings, electrocution, and even decapitation. Saudi authorities have failed to adequately protect workers from preventable deaths, investigate workplace safety incidents, and ensure timely and adequate compensation for families.
The increased trade and business promised by bilateral agreements with the EU risk facilitating these abuses even further, along with legal and reputational damage for EU institutions and companies.
Concerning repression of dissent, in Bahrain, scores of human rights defenders and political prisoners remain behind bars. Two of them are EU citizens: Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Danish, and Mohammed Habib al-Moqdad, Swedish. Al-Khawaja started a new hunger strike a few days ago, just as EU officials were on their way to attend the Manama Dialogue. He’s spent almost 15 years in unjust detention, which represent a collective EU diplomatic failure. This Parliament has repeatedly called for his release, but the other institutions have failed to take the action required.for his release, but the other institutions have failed to take the action required.
The UAE maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward online and offline dissent Scores of critics are serving lengthy sentences following massively unfair trials, and are often held in dismal conditions, including overcrowding and lack of adequate medical care.
Among them is Ahmed Mansoor, a renowned human rights defender, whose sentence was upheld this year in a mass trial along with 84 others. Once again, this Parliament has repeatedly called for his release, but that doesn’t seem to be a priority for the other EU institutions, which allegedly only raise his and other cases during unproductive human rights dialogues.
In Saudi Arabia, authorities continue to use the notorious counterterrorism law to silence dissent and persecute religious minorities. Since Mohammed bin Salman came to power, perceived critics have been sentenced to longer jail terms than ever before, and sometimes even to death, for peaceful expression on social media. We acknowledge several releases earlier this year, but that doesn’t mean a policy shift: arrests have continued, and those released are not free to leave the country nor to allowed continue their peaceful activism.
In July, Saudi Arabia executed the first journalist, Turki al-Jasser, since the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi, this time not in an extra-judicial way. 2025 is on track for being Saudi Arabia’s record year for official executions – at least 319 so far, including at least 198 for nonviolent drug-related offenses. At least 2 were executed for alleged crimes committed when they were children.
Regrettably, EU institutions are reluctant to prioritize human rights in their engagement with GCC countries.
EU public statements of concern are only issued on death penalty cases, and inconsistently so. Finding EU statements on labor abuses or repression of dissent in the GCC is nearly impossible, and rare mentions of GCC countries in EU statements at the UN Human Rights Council often use language that does not reflect the seriousness of the abuses.
No GCC individuals or entities are under EU human rights sanctions, despite documentation of war crimes in Yemen or other egregious abuses. And the 2022 joint communication for a strategic partnership with the Gulf leaves everything to bilateral human rights dialogues, that have largely proven unable to secure deliverables.
Human Rights Watch has recommended to the EU a “more for more” approach for its relations with the Gulf, linking closer ties with GCC countries to concrete human rights progress. In particular, we recommend:
- Independent human rights impact assessments before any agreement is signed;
- Each agreement should require both parties, including all EU states, to ratify and maintain ratification of core human rights, labor rights and environmental treaties;
- Each agreement should set up formal platforms for dialogue between independent civil society groups and governments/institutions from both sides, with robust safeguards against retaliation;
- The agreements should include specific and time-bound obligations for concerned GCC countries to:
- Fully dismantle the “kafala” system;
- Guarantee to all workers the right to free expression and assembly, collective bargaining, and the right to peacefully strike; and
- The adoption and enforcement of legislation as necessary to ensure adequate heat protection for outdoor workers.
- Human rights dialogues should be impact-oriented, not box-ticking exercises.
- Besides the agreements, EU institutions, including this Parliament, should press Gulf governments to:
- Amend personal status and other laws to and male guardianship and guarantee women’s rights;
- Release human rights defenders and government critics;
- Reform laws criminalizing dissent, including penal codes, Cybercrime Laws, and counter terrorism laws; and
- End support for abusive forces, such as warring parties in Sudan, responsible for atrocity crimes.
Finally, we must stress that at least some of these concerns apply to EU countries as well: UN independent experts and human rights groups have denounced growing violations of free speech across Europe, including in relation to pro-Palestine protests, and several EU governments have continued to provide military support to abusive Israeli military forces, in breach of their obligations under the UN Genocide Convention and other international humanitarian law.
As negotiations progress and partnerships evolve, the EU deserves to be on the receiving end of criticism, and we hope that that will change.
