wattWhen Shahada set out from his village in Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia, he had only one goal: to make money for his impoverished family. “If he sends money home, his family can eat. If he doesn’t, they won’t do it.
For years, he scraped by, sending a little money home every month and trying to repay a massive debt to cover the illegal fees recruitment agencies charged him to travel to Saudi Arabia.
Then everything started to fall apart. The employer failed to renew his residence permit, making him an undocumented worker. His health began to deteriorate, but his irregular status meant that access to medical care was difficult.
It was difficult for him to find a job. To survive, he had to borrow more money instead of sending money home. He was so desperate that he worked on construction sites in exchange for food and meals.
Then his journey came to an abrupt end. “I called him one day and his roommate told me he was sleeping,” said Rojina, Shahadat’s wife. “When they tried to wake him, they found him dead.”
Shahada’s death is one of many stories shared by The Guardian this year as it investigates the unexplained deaths of a large number of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.
In 2022, an average of 4 Bangladeshis died in the country every day. Demand for testimonials from such workers is likely to surge.
Over the past few months, many human rights groups have expressed concern over alleged abuses of migrant workers and the risks of Saudi Arabia hosting the World Cup, with Amnesty International saying “migrant workers will face exploitation and many will die.”
When the current death toll at Dhaka International Airport was revealed late last year, distraught and confused families came to collect coffins carrying the bodies of their loved ones, which had been ferried out on trolleys from the cargo terminal.
Shahada’s coffin was carried by ambulance from the airport to his village, about three hours’ drive from Dhaka. It was late at night when he arrived, but more than a hundred people stayed up late to greet him. Every household in the village sends people to work abroad, and the death of one person is a heavy blow to them.
Scenes like this are repeated with heart-wrenching frequency in villages and towns across Bangladesh. According to Bangladeshi government records, at least 13,685 Bangladeshis died in Saudi Arabia between 2008 and 2022. Most deaths appear unexplained and unexamined, making it difficult to determine the underlying cause.
Experts point to the poor living and working conditions faced by many workers as possible factors. “I believe the mental stress of not having the correct documentation, not having a job and dealing with debt played a role in his death,” Rogina said.
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Saudi Arabia is a country powered not only by oil but also by cheap labor. There are millions of them, coming from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and other places. They will build the promised 11 new stadiums, transport links and 185,000 hotel rooms. Without them there would be no World Cup.
The human rights strategy Saudi Arabia submitted in its bid to host the World Cup included a long list of measures it said it would take to strengthen protections, including “mandatory welfare standards”.
But testimonies from returning Bangladeshi workers suggest abuses are deeply entrenched in the Gulf kingdom. At the end of last year, when Abu Raihan and other men appeared at the arrival gate of Dhaka Airport, they looked shocked. He was one of nearly 70,000 Bangladeshis deported from Saudi Arabia in 2022, mainly for not having a valid residence permit.
They are rounded up on the streets and taken to detention centers, where they usually stay for one to two weeks before being sent home. They come back with stories of shocking treatment and abuse; fake contracts, unpaid wages and huge recruitment debts.
Raihan said he had to sell his land to pay a recruitment fee of 430,000 taka (£2,800) to obtain a work visa in Saudi Arabia. He said the company promised him a two-year contract but after 90 days, his company did not extend his visa.
Raihan claimed that with no job and no food, he complained to the police, but instead of helping him, they took him to a detention center. “I was made illegal because of my employer but the police took no action against him.”
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development said “strong regulations and standards guaranteeing workers’ rights” are in place and that “those proven to have violated Saudi work and residence regulations will be deported only after all legal measures have been taken” people” .
