Migrant staff employed in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia have suffered “appalling” residing situations, on-the-job security dangers and wage theft, Amnesty International stated in a report on Tuesday.

Labour provide corporations have additionally threatened to impose steep fines for staff who need to lower brief their contracts, successfully stranding them within the Gulf Kingdom, the human rights group stated.

“The workers thought they were seizing a golden opportunity with Amazon but instead ended up suffering abuses which left many traumatised,” stated Amnesty’s head of financial and social justice, Steve Cockburn.

“Many of those we interviewed suffered abuses so severe that they are likely to amount to human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.”

The report attracts from the accounts of twenty-two males from Nepal who’ve labored in warehouses within the Saudi capital Riyadh or the Red Sea coastal metropolis of Jeddah going again to 2021, Amnesty stated.

Cockburn stated Amnesty suspects “hundreds more endured similar appalling treatment.”

Amnesty accused recruitment brokers and two Saudi labour provide corporations of deceiving migrant staff who thought they might be employed straight by Amazon and took out steep loans to pay recruitment charges.

Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia they encountered “dirty and overcrowded accommodation, sometimes infested with bed bugs” in addition to “gruelling” working situations marked by fixed monitoring and insufficient relaxation, typically leading to harm, Amnesty stated.

The kingdom’s “kafala” sponsorship system for overseas staff meant the labourers struggled to depart the warehouse jobs and risked attainable arrest for “absconding”, Amnesty stated, including that “a few contemplated suicide”.

One employee recognized as Dev informed the rights group: “I tried to jump from the wall, I tried to kill myself. I told my mum and she said: ‘Don’t, we will get a loan.’ Already it is eight months since she took a loan and the interest is piling up.”

Amnesty stated Amazon ought to compensate affected staff and examine working situations alongside its provide chain.

Amazon’s senior vice chairman of worldwide operations, John Felton, stated in a press release despatched to AFP that Amazon was “deeply concerned” some contract staff in Saudi Arabia “were not treated with the standards we set forth, and the dignity and respect they deserve”.

He stated the corporate was working with “our third-party vendor” to make sure that situations enhance and that staff are repaid “any unpaid wages or worker-paid recruitment fees” and supplied with “clean and safe accommodations”.

Amnesty additionally referred to as on Saudi authorities to analyze the abuses and enhance situations for overseas staff.

The Saudi authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

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