New Delhi: Migrant workers powering Saudi Arabia's green energy transformation are describing their working environments as "hell" and "like jail". A new report by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRCC) has shed light on the systemic exploitation of migrant workers on some of their largest green energy projects – with 16 major international corporations, including India's Larsen & Toubro (L&T), in the red. The report notes that urgent action needs to be taken to replace the labour system with enforceable policies so a sustainable future can truly be achieved.

The report identified exploitation across five major renewable energy projects – the Al Kahfah Solar PV Plant, Sudair Solar PV Plant, NEOM Green Hydrogen Project and Muwayh Solar PV Plant. L&T, which has multimillion dollar contracts in the Saudi kingdom, employs more than two-thirds of the affected workers surveyed either directly or through sub-contractors.

Exploitation of workers

Interviews with 34 migrant workers painted a grim picture. All workers were charged recruitment fees of $1600 on average, which most workers had to take out loans for and which took over a year to repay. They were never reimbursed.

Their average salary was approximately $370 per month, excluding overtime. Even this low amount was subjected to wage theft, leaving workers struggling to support themselves and their families. This becomes especially concerning as all workers reported that their motivation for moving to Saudi Arabia was due to financial necessity.

Occupational safety and working hours are other major concerns. Most workers reported working mandatory 10-hour workdays, seven days a week. Moreover, they were made to continue working even during extreme weather such as excessive temperatures, intense cold, and dust storms. The food that they got was “comparable to what people feed cattle”, said a worker. Some workers even faced safety concerns from machinery and infestations of snakes and scorpions. These conditions have led to the reported deaths of six labourers, including two by suicide.

Workers could not even raise complaints due to corporate impunity. They reported a culture of fear and retaliation around complaints, that discouraged them from voicing their struggles. Fifteen workers said that they were unaware of any formal complaint system, beyond reporting to their direct superiors. Furthermore, the use of the Kafala – which is the employer-tied visa sponsorship, creates a power imbalance between the workers and the employers that restricts their freedom and makes them more susceptible to exploitation by the employers they depend on for residence. Unions and protests remain banned in the kingdom, which eliminates the chance for public support for workers.

Even employer provided accommodation was described as "container like" and "beyond words". One worker was made to share a room with 12 others with not even enough space to place his belongings in. Workers had little freedom of movement beyond this accommodation due to the isolated geographies of such projects, the lack of available transport, and evening curfews.

Despite 2021 provisions that enabled migrants the right to change jobs without their employers approval, only two workers reported they could do so. Several labourers were unfamiliar with the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Development's online platform that facilitates their job transfer process. Workers who were aware cited a lack of understanding, documentation, and implementation required by the system.

Future steps

Catriona Fraser, a migrant workers researcher at BHRRC raised pressing questions about L&T’s public positioning as a sustainability leader. “These workers, who are the backbone of the projects, report severe human rights violations in the very industry that should symbolise a sustainable future,” she said.

She added that engineering giants must open their eyes to the very real human cost of the kingdom’s energy expansion and urged immediate intervention to ensure basic rights.

The report calls for companies and financiers to adopt binding human rights safeguards to create a 'just transition' to sustainable energy. Companies should publicly express their commitment to ensuring human rights of their employees. They should also perform their due diligence and adopt provisions for the rights of at-risk populations that have largely been excluded from previous reforms. Fair recruitment practices should be followed, along with complete transparency on all parties involved in the project. Workers should also have accessible remedial mechanisms with clear consequences to companies that do not provide them their basic rights.

The transition to renewable energy is undoubtedly a step in the right direction for Saudi Arabia, but the cost of the labourers generating it is heavy. If workers that are central to it remain invisible in the process, sustainability becomes an empty title rather than a standard. The idea of a cleaner planet cannot be built on the backs of the voiceless labourers that are treated as disposable. As the kingdom prepares to become a green country, it must also be accountable to how its treats its workers.

Anya Rajgarhia is an editorial intern at The Wire.

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