Saudi Arabia: Massive "layoffs" of Yemenis worry Human Rights Watch
A foreign worker walks past a power station on August 27, 2016 in the Saudi city of Najran, on the border with Yemen.
AFP - FAYEZ NURELDINE
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4 min
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns of the mass dismissal of Yemenis working in Saudi Arabia.
The NGO calls on Riyadh to reverse a new regulation that condemns thousands of workers to return to their country, plagued by a deadly war and the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
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"
The Saudi authorities are laying off hundreds, if not thousands of Yemeni employees, threatening to return to Yemen in the grip of conflict and a humanitarian crisis,
" said Afrah Nasser, senior researcher for Yemen at HRW, in a statement released Tuesday.
Riyadh began in July to "
terminate or not renew
" the contracts of Yemeni employees, reports HRW.
On that date, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources announced new rules forcing companies to limit the number of employees from certain countries, including Yemen.
In the case of Yemenis, their number cannot exceed 25% of a company's payroll.
A decision with serious consequences as around two million Yemenis live and work in neighboring Saudi Arabia, according to data from the Yemeni government dating from 2020. Some were born in the Saudi kingdom and have never set foot in Yemen.
Seven years of war in Yemen
The layoffs of Yemeni employees in Saudi Arabia take place against a backdrop of war in Yemen that has pitted government forces - backed by a Riyadh-led military coalition operating in Yemen - against Houthi rebels backed by Iran for seven years.
Tens of thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced by this conflict, according to international NGOs and which the UN says has caused the world's worst
humanitarian crisis
.
HRW calls for suspension of layoffs
The mass layoff of Yemeni labor force is a huge loss for the people of an
already bloodless
country
.
Pre-war Yemen was already the poorest nation in the Arabian Peninsula, and since the conflict began, many Yemenis have relied more than ever on remittances from their compatriots in the Gulf.
According to the Yemeni government, in 2018, transfers from Saudi Arabia accounted for 61% of all transfers from abroad.
HRW is calling on Saudi authorities to suspend the new regulations and allow these employees to remain in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to AFP's requests.
► See also: Yemen: a new UN envoy to settle a devastating conflict
(With
AFP
)
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