2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Bahrain

BAHRAIN (Tier 1)

The Government of Bahrain fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained anti-trafficking efforts during the reporting period; therefore Bahrain remained on Tier 1. These efforts included drafting, finalizing, and disseminating a screening form to identify trafficking victims held in detention centers pending deportation and developing a mandatory identification tool to identify potential sex trafficking victims in “prostitution” cases. The government continued to assist vulnerable individuals at its shelter, including potential trafficking victims, and created a specialized office within the Labor Migration Regulatory Authority (LMRA) to support victims, potential victims, and witnesses participating in criminal proceedings. The government expanded eligibility for the Labor Registration Program (LRP), which enabled undocumented workers to regularize their status through self-sponsorship, and government ministries coordinated to provide administrative and legal assistance to self-sponsored workers in filing civil suits in cases of disputes during employment. Officials expanded the number of languages available for the standard domestic worker contract to prevent contract switching and ensure workers understood the contents of agreements. The government established a screening procedure for all domestic workers upon arrival at the airport to verify employment and prevent fraudulent recruitment and employer abuse. Although the government meets the minimum standards, it convicted fewer traffickers and identified fewer victims. The government did not consistently screen vulnerable populations for trafficking indicators, including undocumented workers and individuals in commercial sex, which may have resulted in the penalization of victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Bahraini law did not explicitly prohibit passport retention – a key indicator of trafficking – and passport confiscation remained a widespread practice. The government did not provide adequate legal protections for domestic workers, a population highly vulnerable to trafficking. The government did not enforce penalties for noncompliant employers in the Wage Protection System (WPS).

Ensure all frontline officials adequately and consistently use newly developed screening protocols, specifically when encountering vulnerable groups, such as individuals in the commercial sex industry, domestic workers who left their employer, migrant workers, undocumented workers, and foreign workers including during law enforcement action, labor inspections and prior to deportation proceedings. * Expand legal protections for domestic workers that are equal to those of private sector workers. * Significantly increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict sex and labor traffickers, including cases of domestic servitude. * Adopt legislation prohibiting passport confiscation with deterrent penalties that applies to all workers and train officials to consider passport confiscation as a trafficking indicator. * Fully implement the WPS, including by holding accountable violators with deterrent penalties and ensure officials screen all wage theft cases for other trafficking indicators. * Expand the WPS to include all domestic workers. * Ensure non-contract registered workers have access to justice and grievance mechanisms in case of disputes related to working conditions or employer abuse, including access to labor courts if applicable. * Fully implement screening procedures for domestic workers upon arrival to Bahrain and ensure domestic workers sign a contract in their own language and in the presence of a labor official to improve oversight of contract switching. * Continue to conduct national anti-trafficking awareness campaigns, strategically targeting migrants, domestic workers, and employers and use orientation programming to ensure workers have not paid recruitment fees prior to traveling to Bahrain.

The government maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The anti-trafficking law, No. 1 of 2008, criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties ranging from three to 15 years’ imprisonment, plus a fine between 2,000 and 10,000 Bahraini dinar (BD) ($5,310-$26,530) and the cost of repatriating the victim(s). These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) investigated 46 cases involving 66 alleged traffickers – 17 for sex trafficking, 27 labor trafficking, and two cases involving both sex and labor trafficking – compared with 42 investigations in 2022. Officials prosecuted 19 perpetrators, including 13 alleged sex traffickers, two alleged labor traffickers and four defendants for both sex and labor trafficking crimes; this compared with the prosecution of 19 defendants in 2022. Courts convicted eight traffickers, including three for sex trafficking, one for labor trafficking and four for both sex and labor trafficking; this was a decrease compared with 15 convictions in 2022. Officials sentenced all traffickers to between one and 10 years’ imprisonment plus a fine in accordance with the law. The government required convicted traffickers to pay all costs associated with the repatriation of victims and planned to deport all non-Bahraini traffickers upon completion of their sentences. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.

MOI’s Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science (CID) maintained a police unit dedicated to trafficking investigations. The Public Prosecution Office (PPO)’s Trafficking in Persons Unit prosecuted all trafficking crimes under the 2008 anti-trafficking law and ensured victims had access to legal recourse and adequate protection services and assistance. Officials reported trafficking cases were regularly fast-tracked to the High Criminal Court, bypassing the lower courts, to accelerate the justice process. Although observers continued to report some government officials and frontline authorities handled labor law violations administratively rather than investigating indicators of trafficking, the government continued to make efforts to improve the mechanism in which labor-focused authorities referred suspected labor trafficking cases to law enforcement for criminal proceedings. The Labor Market Regulation Authority (LMRA)’s Protective Inspection Directorate (PID) and Grievances and Protections Directorate (GPD) continued to identify and refer labor trafficking cases for criminal prosecution, specifically those that originated as labor violations and continued to be incorporated into the government’s broader NRM. If the GPD identified a potential trafficking crime through screening, it referred the case to the PID to conduct a full investigation. PID’s investigators could refer potential trafficking cases directly to the PPO, which often forwarded the cases to CID to conduct a follow-up investigation for additional information to aid in prosecution. However, this transfer of cases or authority between agencies during the investigation phase sometimes hindered the government’s ability to prosecute labor trafficking crimes that originated as labor violations. Nonetheless, the PID referred 32 potential trafficking cases to the PPO through this process, including 31 for labor trafficking and one for sex trafficking. Of the 32 cases referred, officials prosecuted one labor trafficking case involving an unknown number of perpetrators.

The government trained – directly and in partnership with Gulf states and international organizations – law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, LMRA staff, NRM personnel, labor inspectors, shelter staff, medical staff, airline personnel, hotline operators, and media representatives on various anti-trafficking topics, including proactive identification and screening, trafficking indicators labor trafficking, and evidence collection in labor trafficking cases. The government continued its training of trainers program for labor inspectors, law enforcement, medical and airline personnel, and shelter staff to enable them to share expertise on victim identification in Bahrain. Investigators from CID’s anti-trafficking unit trained on screening and identifying trafficking indicators often accompanied immigration officials during law enforcement action and immigration inspection visits to provide victim identification expertise.

The government increased efforts to protect victims. The government identified 22 trafficking victims, compared with 27 victims in the previous reporting period. The 22 victims identified included 15 female sex trafficking victims (one girl), three labor trafficking victims (two females and one male) and four female victims of both sex and labor trafficking. The government referred all 22 victims to care; one victim declined services and one victim was immediately repatriated. The government continued to utilize its NRM to proactively identify victims, ensure proper documentation of cases, refer cases to the MOI and PPO for an official determination, and provide protection services to victims until case resolution or voluntary repatriation. Officials provided English and Arabic NRM booklets to all relevant ministries, labor-source country embassies, and NGO stakeholders. Police stations, other government entities, NGOs, religious organizations, and foreign embassies directly referred victims to the LMRA.

The LMRA’s Expatriate Protection Center (EPC) provided services to workers regardless of their gender or legal status in the country, including shelter for potential trafficking victims, persons who experienced severe labor exploitation, and persons vulnerable to exploitation. The EPC provided separate spaces for men, women, and children with a maximum capacity of 400 individuals. The government allocated 197,191 BD ($523,050) for victim protection and assistance. The EPC provided victims and potential victims with shelter, food, clothing, medical care, religious support, psycho-social care, transportation, familial reunification, translation services, and legal counsel. Observers noted the PPO was inconsistent in how it made official determinations a trafficking crime had occurred, but reported access to the EPC was not contingent on a determination. However, potential trafficking victims were ineligible for the Victim Assistance Fund without an official determination of trafficking by the PPO. Previously, observers noted, in practice, the government limited services to potential victims unless officials identified a perpetrator and collected enough evidence to prosecute the perpetrator, which may have prevented unidentified or potential trafficking victims with complex legal proceedings from receiving adequate and specialized care. The government provided assistance, including shelter, to 44 potential trafficking victims. The government offered job placement in Bahrain to victims who desired to remain in the country to work and provided new work permits to two labor trafficking victims. Some observers expressed concern that once victims were able to return to work in Bahrain, their employer still controlled their residency permit and work visa, heightening their vulnerability to exploitation and re-trafficking. The government reported trafficking victims were eligible to sponsor their own work visas through the LRP and the government could use victim assistance funds to pay the registration fees for a victim’s work permit. One victim identified became a non-contract registered worker under the LRP. The government provided all official trafficking victims who remained in Bahrain for the duration of their trial with 1,131 BD ($3,000) in assistance in addition to a monthly allowance of 93 BD ($250) via its Victim Assistance Fund. LMRA provided additional funding, as needed, for victim repatriation and financed daily GPD expenditures, such as payroll and operational expenses. Embassies of labor-source countries also provided housing on a temporary basis for potential victims who decided not to go to the EPC or were unable to reach it. The government repatriated 16 victims.

Although the government had formal identification procedures, some authorities did not consistently screen vulnerable populations for trafficking indicators, including undocumented workers and individuals in commercial sex. Therefore, authorities likely penalized unidentified trafficking victims through detainment and deportation solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Observers who interviewed migrant workers detained for immigration violations due to a lack of legal status, reported several workers experienced indicators of trafficking, including excessive work hours, passport confiscation, lack of rest days, and requests for payment in exchange for sponsor approval to change jobs. None of the interviewed workers had been screened for trafficking indicators or asked about experiencing abuse at the hands of their employer. The government continued to conduct joint-ministry inspections through an LMRA-MOI taskforce – which intended to identify non-compliant employers, potential trafficking victims and workers in violation of labor and residency laws. From the inspections, officials identified 47 potential trafficking cases and referred them to the PPO. The government also deported 5,477 violating workers identified via the joint inspections. The government did not in general proactively monitor establishments known to be frequented for commercial sex and instead only investigated such cases if an individual filed a report with authorities. Moreover, observers noted the government did not frequently identify potential trafficking victims during law enforcement actions and individuals in commercial sex were not regularly screened for trafficking indicators. In an effort to improve victim identification, the government drafted and finalized a screening form for trained officers to interview individuals pending deportation and identify those who experienced trafficking indicators. Separately, the government developed an identification tool specifically to improve identification of potential sex trafficking victims and required officials to use this tool in all “prostitution” cases to ensure sex trafficking victims were not arrested on such charges. Nonetheless, some migrant workers who fled abusive visa sponsors chose not to report abuse out of fear of deportation during the year.

Bahraini officials provided comprehensive protective assistance to all official victims regardless of their willingness to participate in criminal justice proceedings and relieved them from all legal and financial penalties related to acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The government shared a full evaluation of their case with the victim and their legal right to restitution in the event of a conviction. The law provided victim-witness assistance to anyone providing information during criminal justice proceedings, and the government reported it kept confidential the identities of all persons through the stages of the NRM, regardless of whether the individual was declared a trafficking victim. In April 2023, the LMRA established a specialized office responsible for liaising with victims, law enforcement, and prosecutors to ensure adequate victim-witness assistance during criminal justice proceedings. The government reported victims could testify via written correspondence, video recording, a closed-circuit live video, or in private; however, the government reported no victims required or requested to testify through these methods. Victims could speak in their native language in court proceedings with the assistance of an interpreter. The government reported 100 potential trafficking victims participated in law enforcement investigations; of those, 37 participated in court proceedings. Observers reported concerns the requirement for all case-related documents to be translated into Arabic before being presented to judges, created difficulties in seeking redress for vulnerable migrants, including potential trafficking victims. Workers infrequently filed complaints against employers due to distrust of the legal system, protracted court processes, inability to afford legal representation, lack of interpretation and translation services, concern over potential loss of residence permits during proceedings, and fear of additional mistreatment due to employer reprisal. The government reported it could award restitution during criminal proceedings, while victims could file civil suits to receive compensation; however, the government did not report awarding restitution or victims filing such civil suits.

The government increased efforts to prevent trafficking. The National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) – composed of members from the LMRA, MOI, PPO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Supreme Judicial Council, Ministry of social Development and Ministry of Information Affairs – led government anti-trafficking efforts; it met three times as a full committee. The LMRA maintained a research section within its Regional Center of Excellence and Capacity Building for Combating Trafficking, which the government reported conducted studies based on NRM data and generated recommendations to address ongoing gaps in the government’s anti-trafficking response. The government allocated 1,385,213 BD ($3,674,310) for anti-trafficking efforts. In partnership with an international organization, the government continued a national awareness campaign targeting foreign workers, employers, and the public on workers’ and employer’s rights and responsibilities, as well as exploitive practices that may lead to trafficking such as passport retention, restriction of movement, long working hours, denied rest days, and lack of medical attention. The campaign also focused on providing workers information on their rights, reporting methods in cases of exploitation, and protection and judicial support available to workers. The LMRA maintained a website with information on trafficking and resources for foreign workers; however, NGOs reported key information on the website was only available in English, limiting its utility. The LMRA continued to provide booklets outlining labor rights in 12 languages common among expatriate and migrant worker populations and distributed them to such populations upon their arrival at the Bahrain International Airport and at the LMRA when applying for initial or renewed residence cards. Observers noted language barriers remained an obstacle for workers to access such materials, particularly domestic workers inside private homes. The EPC’s 24/7 anti-trafficking hotline collected reports and educated workers about their rights and available services in nine languages. The government advertised the hotline’s number and mandate through pamphlets given to each migrant worker upon arrival in Bahrain and on the LMRA’s social media platforms and website. The government reported the LMRA’s trafficking hotline received 851 calls during the year; the MOI’s hotline received 138 calls and identified two potential trafficking cases and referred them to the PPO. Observers continued to report the government hotline sometimes went unanswered and did not provide support in Tagalog, despite the significant number of Filipino workers in Bahrain.

Article 23 of Bahraini Law No. 19 of 2006 prohibited worker-paid recruitment fees. However, observers noted migrant workers continued to report the prevalence of schemes in which prospective workers paid a recruiter in their home country, or more rarely paid a recruiter in Bahrain, for employment or a work permit. Experts asserted the government did not adequately pursue measures to limit this practice or provide support to workers indebted to unscrupulous recruiters, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses such as construction firms, salons, and those in office support fields like security personnel, cleaners, and other support staff. In addition, Article 23 was not applicable to domestic workers, further increasing this populations’ vulnerability to trafficking, including through debt bondage. Nonetheless, the LMRA reported handling seven cases of worker-paid recruitment fees and referring the cases to the PPO for criminal investigation. The LMRA continued to oversee issuance of licenses and regulation of recruitment agencies through quarterly inspections, monitoring agencies for employment and immigration violations, and other measures. The government continued to require employers provide workers with adequate accommodation and required recruitment agencies pay a one-time deposit equivalent to 10,000 BD ($26,530) that would be forfeited if the company violated employees’ rights. During the year, PID conducted 402 recruitment agency inspections and 371 inspections of employment offices; these inspections resulted in the closure of one employment office that was referred for civil prosecution.

Since 2011, the government allowed private sector migrant workers freedom to change jobs without their employer’s consent after one year of employment, although the LMRA still had to approve each transfer. In addition to this policy, the government operated programs granting foreign workers the ability to work without a Bahraini visa sponsor. The government continued to implement the LRP, which allowed migrants to register at labor registration centers and obtain a work permit without a sponsor or contract. Non-contract workers could register for a one or two year permit, both renewable at the end of either period. A one-year permit cost 527 BD ($1,400) and a two-year permit cost 879 BD ($2,330), which included health insurance and departure flight ticket insurance. In 2023, the government provided the option for a six-month permit, costing 351 BD ($930), which provided additional flexibilities for workers to self-sponsor. These programs allowed registered workers to hold multiple jobs concurrently with various employers and did not require technical certifications to register. Following registration, workers designated 20 preferred professions and were auto-enrolled in a new service agreement portal to enable workers to document all employment agreements, which could be used as evidence in case of a civil dispute with their employer. Previously, non-contract workers relied on verbal agreements with employers, which made enforcement of their rights challenging in case of disputes. The government required registered workers to attend orientation sessions to raise awareness of their rights as non-contract workers and available resources for grievances.

The LRP was available for current Flexi Permit holders – the previous program that enabled workers to self-sponsor – and workers with expired, cancelled, or terminated contracts, regardless of their immigration status. Workers transitioning from the Flexi Permit to the LRP were eligible for a refund or credit for fees paid. In 2023, the government removed the cut-off date for workers without legal status to enroll, broadening the eligibility for workers to regularize their status through registration. However, like the Flexi Permit program, migrants could not register with the LRP before arriving in Bahrain or after arriving on a tourist visa; workers were only eligible for the program once their work visa expired, contract ended, or if they were undocumented. This continued to put migrant workers in vulnerable situations with their legal immigration status tied to their sponsor or employer when first arriving and seeking employment in the country. Additionally, workers who were the targets of legal charges filed against them, such as “absconding” or criminal charges, were not eligible to register. Domestic workers were also eligible to register with the LRP following the expiration of their contract or in situations where their contract was cancelled or terminated due to a violation of their rights or abuse. Separate from the LRP, the government reported domestic workers could change jobs without employer consent following the conclusion of their initial contracts and with LMRA approval; domestic workers in Bahrain generally had two-year contracts. However, it did not publicize or announce this policy change, which limited the number of domestic workers aware of and able to utilize this reform, as well as its implementation among officials. One NGO reported low awareness of the change among domestic workers and expressed concerns employers could unilaterally renew a worker’s permit and visa. The LMRA stated workers had the option to preempt any unilateral or automatic contract renewal or to notify the LMRA at the contract’s end that they did not want to renew. All migrant workers remained able to terminate employment at any time, within the notice period specified in their contract, and leave the country permanently without employer consent.

Observers continued to express the need to ensure rights for self-sponsored workers. Because self-sponsored workers, including those registered in the LRP, were not categorized as “employees,” they were not entitled to rights and protections enshrined under the labor law. In April 2023, the LMRA and Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments (MOJIA) signed an MOU to provide such workers administrative assistance in filing civil cases and pro bono services in legal proceedings. However, observers noted registered workers continued to lack access to labor courts to address disputes related to working conditions. The LMRA previously reported efforts to launch a dedicated hotline for registered workers but did not report establishing the hotline for the second consecutive reporting period.

The WPS required employers to pay wages electronically to workers via financial institutions authorized by the Central Bank of Bahrain; the system encompassed private employers with one or more employees and automatically enrolled registered self-sponsoring workers. The government designed the system to alert the LMRA and MOL to instances of non- or delayed-payment of wages with violators subject to penalties and legal action. However, observers reported the government did not receive alerts for non-payment of wages and noted not all workers had bank accounts and many received their salaries in cash, limiting the effectiveness of the system. As of January 2024, 65,491 companies (with 589,003 workers) were enrolled in the WPS; the government reported 74 percent of companies were complaint with WPS regulations. However, the government did not report penalizing employers for non-compliance. NGOs continued to express concern that a ban on issuing new work permits was an insufficient penalty for violating the WPS. NGOs reported officials still preferred to mediate WPS wage disputes between the employer and employee, rather than hold the non-compliant employer accountable with penalties. Non- and delayed-payment of wages continued to be common practice; the LMRA reported it received 1,064 claims of unpaid wages from workers during the year. In 2023, workers reported wage theft between one and five months. Employers of domestic workers were not required to enroll in the system, which continued to render this population vulnerable to wage theft.

Articles 19 and 40 of the labor law established limited protections for domestic workers, which included agricultural workers, home security guards, nannies, drivers, and cooks who work for the employer or family members, requiring employers to provide a labor contract specifying annual leave and bonuses, and that such workers must be paid at least monthly. However, Article 22, which prohibited contract switching or changes to preset work conditions outlined in the contract, was not applicable to domestic workers. Labor inspectors were unable to conduct unannounced inspections of domestic workers’ accommodations and investigate abuse allegations without an official complaint, which may have left some victims at risk of exploitation and without protection. Due to these limited protections, observers reported domestic workers frequently fled their employer’s home to remove themselves from abusive situations, thereby further increasing their vulnerability to traffickers seeking to exploit their unemployment and undocumented status. As soon as employers reported a worker as “absconding,” they faced residency law violations and could be detained by officials. In other cases, domestic workers felt unable to leave exploitive working conditions due to abuse or threats of abuse, including nonpayment of wages in retaliation for seeking out new employment, physical abuse, threats of deportation or “selling” the worker to another employer without consent. The LMRA continued to disseminate copies of the standard labor contract to all registered recruitment agencies and private families seeking to recruit such workers in Bahrain, which required domestic workers to sign, prior to their arrival, a comprehensive work agreement outlining labor rights and employment obligations. The contract aimed to strengthen protections for domestic workers by requiring employers to disclose duties, hours of work, salary, rest hours, and weekly days off. Domestic workers brought to Bahrain by recruitment agencies and private families were able to accept or reject a contract in their respective countries of origin, and the LMRA maintained copies of signed contracts to assist in future labor disputes and mitigate contract switching. However, NGOs expressed concern the standard contract lacked mandatory working conditions as it remained up to the employer to determine working hours, minimum wage, overtime pay, and rest time. In contrast, the labor law stipulated a maximum daily limit of eight working hours for other private sector workers. Additionally, NGOs noted many vulnerable domestic workers did not know the contents of their contract due to language barriers or had a copy of their contract in their possession. Other observers reported instances of contracting switching, particularly for workers who did not have embassy representation in Bahrain. To address vulnerability of domestic workers and to further address contract switching, the government reported offering the standard contract in additional languages, including Hindi, Indonesian, Amharic, Urdu, and Sinhala – to ensure workers understood the contents of agreements. In addition, the government established a screening procedure for all domestic workers upon arrival at the airport through a questionnaire regarding recruitment, employment, and their contract; the government reported if discrepancies were found, officials still allowed entry into Bahrain but also generated a case for the LMRA to further verify the worker’s employment and prevent further exploitation, including trafficking.

Bahraini law did not explicitly prohibit passport retention, even when the employee objected the practice. Instead, the government handled passport retention administratively once migrant workers filed a grievance for passport withholding with the police or the LMRA. Such cases handled by the LMRA reportedly involved screening for trafficking indicators by trained GPD staff. Representatives of labor-source country embassies reported cases handled by LMRA resulted in expedient and fair disposition of cases. Once contacted by the LMRA or police, employers routinely denied having possession of an employee’s passport. Without an admission, law enforcement did not pursue cases of passport retention as an indicator of trafficking, and the LMRA did not impose administrative penalties. In most cases, the employer returned the passport, once contacted by the police or LMRA. The LMRA retrieved and returned 1,719 passports to migrant workers in 2023. Observers reported several instances where domestic workers experienced passport confiscation and their employer subsequently lost the passport, which may have prevented workers from reporting abusive employers for fear of being detained or deported. Police generally did not consider passport retention to be a trafficking indicator, instead considering it stolen property if the employer refused to return it. In such cases, the LMRA referred the case to law enforcement and could prohibit the employer from obtaining new or renewing existing work permits and could refer the employer to law enforcement for legal action. The government reported a draft labor law amendment criminalizing passport confiscation was under review, but it did not specify penalties and it remained under review for the second consecutive year.

The government continued to uphold MOUs with several labor source countries focused on recruitment agency oversight and migrant worker protections, and reported several additional MOUs were in progress. The LMRA conducted seven training sessions for labor-source embassy representatives on the LRP, trafficking indicators experienced by migrant workers, and protection services available at the EPC. The sessions also encouraged embassies to share available resources, including government hotlines, and coordinate with the LMRA on worker issues, including those with undocumented status who sought to find new employment. The government continued to coordinate with an international organization to facilitate four orientation programs for migrant workers – two in a worker’s home country, one upon arrival in Bahrain, and one in preparation to depart Bahrain. In an effort to prevent trafficking in supply chains, the government conducted an awareness session with a prominent aluminum company in Bahrain, including its subcontractors, to emphasize ethical recruitment, indicators of labor trafficking, and clean supply chains. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Bahrain. Men and women, primarily from India, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Uganda, and Yemen, among other countries, migrate voluntarily to Bahrain to work as semi-skilled or unskilled laborers in the construction and service industries and domestic work sector – which includes agricultural workers, home security guards, nannies, drivers, and cooks. Men from India and Bangladesh account for the vast majority of Bahrain’s male domestic workers. The government reported there were approximately 78,900 domestic workers in Bahrain as of February 2024, 85 percent of whom were female, predominantly from the Philippines, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Domestic workers from African countries are increasingly at risk of labor trafficking and arrive in Bahrain via direct recruitment from local employers in which workers pay brokers or middlemen in their home country to match them with a visa sponsor in Bahrain. Reports increasingly indicate traffickers in countries of origin deceptively recruit skilled workers – including doctors and teachers, mostly from Africa – and upon arriving to Bahrain, force them into domestic work. Some employers subject migrant workers to labor trafficking in Bahrain; indicators include passport retention, confinement, contract substitution, non-payment of wages, debt bondage, excessive working hours, threats or intimidation, and physical or sexual abuse. NGOs and labor-source countries continue to report the prevalence of wage theft and debt bondage, especially among construction and unskilled workers. Reports of unpaid overtime pay, end-of-service indemnity, and denied vacation time continue. Some migrant workers are not given or are not in possession of their employment contracts and are generally unfamiliar with the employment terms contained therein. Courts still only accept documents, including contracts, which most migrant workers did not have possession of, in Arabic, which many migrant workers did not speak. Public opinion supporting the practice of employers retaining workers’ passports to ensure they do not flee, coupled with the fact that passport confiscation is not explicitly prohibited by Bahraini law, enable this pervasive practice to continue.

Nationals of countries without diplomatic or consular presence in Bahrain, most significantly from African countries, are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, as are domestic workers, who are only partially protected under Bahraini labor law and significantly isolated in their place of work. Government and NGO representatives report physical and sexual abuse of female domestic workers, controlled freedom of movement, withholding of workers’ identity cards and passports, restrictions on outside communication, and employer coercion to prevent employees from reporting exploitation remain significant problems. According to reports from the Cuban government, there were Cuban government-affiliated workers in Bahrain in 2022; however, government authorities confirmed these workers departed the country. Government-affiliated Cuban professionals may have been forced to work by the Cuban government. Although the government maintained regulatory authority over recruitment agencies, some migrant workers arrive in Bahrain independent of regulated agencies. Many workers are paired with employers through intermediaries in Bahrain and unlicensed recruiters in their respective countries of origin. Traffickers recruit women to Bahrain via social media platforms or Bahrain-based acquaintances under false pretenses of high-paying jobs in the hospitality and domestic work sectors and subsequently force them into sex trafficking. Some unscrupulous employers bring migrant workers to Bahrain through visa trading or the “free visa” scheme – whereby workers pay an employer a recurring fee to sponsor their work visa while performing work for other employers in violation of local labor law – which can render them vulnerable to trafficking due to their undocumented working status. Expatriates residing in Bahrain long-term are reportedly complicit in the “free visa” scheme.