After Saudi Arabia hosted the United Nations World Tourism Organization last week, the Minister of Tourism HE Ahmed Al-Khateeb announced the Kingdom’s new project, part of the 2030 Vision Plan to diversify the economy, the construction of mid-cost accommodation to attract the middle class for leisure tourism, investing 800 billion dollars into the project. He said the plan was part of “unlocking the value of this great country, [as] we have a lot to offer the world. We want travellers to experience Saudi hospitality.” To achieve this goal, they have created several projects to attract more tourism, like their Red Sea and AMAALA projects which plan to build several luxury resorts.
This project is problematic as Saudi Arabia is notorious for labour abuse of migrant workers. These types of projects are funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) which has historically employed migrant workers to realize these projects. Human Rights Watch exposed the widespread abuse that migrant workers suffered while working on the Masar project. Largely due to the kafala (sponsorship) system, migrant workers often experience withheld pay while working extreme hours with minimal rights. The Saudi government fiercely represses dissent, handing out long prison sentences and even the death penalty to those who speak out against their abuse. These tourism projects are tainted with labour violations; workers experience exploitation, forced labour, movement restriction, retention of identity documents, debt bondage and unsafe working conditions, due to the lack of protection provided by the Saudi government.
The Minister of Tourism promoted this project as an opportunity to “open new jobs for youth and women”, with Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism stating the country’s interest in providing Indonesian workers for the Saudi tourism sector. This potential deal will put these migrant workers in precarious situations, vulnerable to abuse. These types of projects in the past have always relied on the manpower of migrant workers. Saudi Arabia is creating a façade of job openings for youth and women to cover the widespread exploitation of migrant workers.
Human Rights Watch states that Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision projects are a method of whitewashing the country’s abysmal human rights record. The project claims to be sustainable, perpetuating Saudi commitment to clean energy, when HRW proves Saudi continues to contribute more and more to the climate crisis through its fossil fuel production and its continuous undermining of international agreements aiming to reduce global warming.
Saudi Arabia continues to announce impressive projects and large events, like hosting the FIFA World Cup 2034 as a means of covering up the widespread human rights abuses committed by the Saudi government. All the while, these projects rely on the abuse and exploitation of the more than 13.4 million migrant workers in the country.
Saudi Arabia must be held accountable for these crimes under international law and must rectify its system to guarantee the rights and protection of migrant workers, and all people within the nation. Without these guarantees, this project will be stained by the human rights violations experienced by the workers that made it possible.