Omaya Chidiac

Date of Award

12-17-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Laws (LLM)

Keywords

International law, Migrant domestic worker, Migrant construction worker, Arab Gulf, Kafala sponsorship system, Modern day slavery, Slavery, Unfree labour, Precarious employment, Migrant labour, Human rights, Racialization, Othering

First Advisor

Bunting, M. Anne

Abstract

This thesis examines the conditions of migrant construction and domestic workers in the Arab Gulf. I explore literatures on migrant labour, precariousness, and slavery. I also look at international and domestic legal instruments as well as data produced by several human rights organizations. This thesis shows how the mechanisms involved in the migration of migrant construction and domestic workers exacerbate vulnerability and precariousness. I examine the ways in which social locations including gender and race play a role in discrimination against migrant construction and domestic workers in the Arab Gulf, thus assisting conditions of slavery to arise. My aim is not to generalize the situation of migrant construction and domestic workers in the Arab Gulf as amounting to slavery. Rather, I argue that migrant construction and domestic workers in the Arab Gulf enduring conditions tantamount to possession fall under the category of slavery in view of the 1926 Slavery Convention as interpreted by international guidelines and scholars.

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