Saudi Arabia: “I would fear going to work” Labour exploitation at Carrefour sites in Saudi Arabia
Summary
Date Reported: 21 Oct 2024
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Carrefour - Other Value Chain Entity , Majid Al Futtaim - Client , Al-Mutairi Support Services - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Asia & Pacific , Supermarkets & grocery , Men , Unknown migration status ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Shipping & handling: General , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Wage Theft , Injuries , Irregular Work , Dismissal , Recruitment Fees , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Denial of leave , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Intimidation , Freedom of Expression , Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Human Trafficking , Contract Substitution , Right to Food , Illness , Access to Information , Excessive production targets , Access to Water , Access to electricity , Other DiscriminationResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre & Journalists
Story containing response: (Find out more)
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Carrefour and MAF have since said they have launched an internal investigation into the findings, and Carrefour instructed a third-party audit of its franchise partner’s operations. In October, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Carrefour & Majid Al Futtaim to respond to the allegations outlined in the report and provide information on any planned or actual remedy that has taken place for current and former contracted workers who suffered abuses, including: 1) by when it will be administered, and b) the form redress will take. Further, the Resource Centre also asked Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim to disclose the outcomes of their joint investigation into working conditions, and to disclose the results of Carrefour’s externally commissioned audit into Majid Al Futtaim operations. Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim’s responded. The Resource Centre was not able to contact Al Mutairi to invite a response to the allegations; if a response is received in future this page will be updated accordingly.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 21 Oct 2024
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Carrefour - Other Value Chain Entity , Badoor Najed - Employer , Majid Al Futtaim - ClientAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Asia & Pacific , Supermarkets & grocery , Men , Unknown migration status ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - India - Sector unknown , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Restricted mobility , Recruitment Fees , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Denial of leave , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Intimidation , Freedom of Expression , Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Human Trafficking , Contract Substitution , Right to Food , Illness , Access to Information , Excessive production targets , Wage Theft , Injuries , Irregular Work , Other Discrimination , Access to Water , Access to electricity , DismissalResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre & Journalists
Story containing response: (Find out more)
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Carrefour and MAF have since said they have launched an internal investigation into the findings, and Carrefour instructed a third-party audit of its franchise partner’s operations. In October, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Carrefour, Majid Al Futtaim and Badoor Najed to respond to the allegations outlined in the report and provide information on any planned or actual remedy that has taken place for current and former contracted workers who suffered abuses, including: 1) by when it will be administered, and b) the form redress will take. Further, the Resource Centre also asked Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim to disclose the outcomes of their joint investigation into working conditions, and to disclose the results of Carrefour’s externally commissioned audit into Majid Al Futtaim operations. Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim’s responded; Badoor Najed did not respond.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 21 Oct 2024
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Carrefour - Other Value Chain Entity , Majid Al Futtaim - ClientAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Asia & Pacific , Supermarkets & grocery , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Restricted mobility , Recruitment Fees , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Denial of leave , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Intimidation , Freedom of Expression , Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Human Trafficking , Contract Substitution , Right to Food , Illness , Access to Information , Excessive production targets , Wage Theft , Injuries , Irregular Work , Dismissal , Access to Water , Access to electricity , Other DiscriminationResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre & Journalists
Story containing response: (Find out more)
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Carrefour and MAF have since said they have launched an internal investigation into the findings, and Carrefour instructed a third-party audit of its franchise partner’s operations. In October, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Carrefour & Majid Al Futtaim to respond to the allegations outlined in the report and provide information on any planned or actual remedy that has taken place for current and former contracted workers who suffered abuses, including: 1) by when it will be administered, and b) the form redress will take. Further, the Resource Centre also asked Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim to disclose the outcomes of their joint investigation into working conditions, and to disclose the results of Carrefour’s externally commissioned audit into Majid Al Futtaim operations. Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim’s responded.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 21 Oct 2024
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Carrefour - Other Value Chain Entity , Majid Al Futtaim - ClientAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Asia & Pacific , Supermarkets & grocery , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Recruitment Fees , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Denial of leave , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Intimidation , Freedom of Expression , Forced Labour & Modern Slavery , Human Trafficking , Contract Substitution , Right to Food , Illness , Access to Information , Excessive production targets , Wage Theft , Injuries , Irregular Work , Dismissal , Access to Water , Access to electricity , Other DiscriminationResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre & Journalists
Story containing response: (Find out more)
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Carrefour and MAF have since said they have launched an internal investigation into the findings, and Carrefour instructed a third-party audit of its franchise partner’s operations. In October, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Carrefour & Majid Al Futtaim to respond to the allegations outlined in the report and provide information on any planned or actual remedy that has taken place for current and former contracted workers who suffered abuses, including: 1) by when it will be administered, and b) the form redress will take. Further, the Resource Centre also asked Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim to disclose the outcomes of their joint investigation into working conditions, and to disclose the results of Carrefour’s externally commissioned audit into Majid Al Futtaim operations. Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim’s responded.
Source type: News outlet
With an annual turnover of over EUR 94 billion, the Carrefour Group is one of the world’s largest supermarket brands – operating over 14,000 stores in 40 countries. Headquartered in France, the company operates in the Middle East, Africa and Asia via its franchisee Majid Al Futtaim, with between 2,000 and 3,000 staff in Saudi Arabia – roughly a third of whom are contracted via outsourced labour supply companies…
The Carrefour Group is far from the first company to be faced with serious labour abuses in their value chain in Saudia Arabia. Indeed, an investigation conducted by Amnesty International in 2023 into conditions faced by migrant workers contracted to Amazon warehouses in the country highlighted numerous grim accounts of exploitation…
In the course of Amnesty International’s investigation into Amazon, researchers discovered at least one of the company’s contractors also supplied migrant workers to Carrefour Group’s facilities in the Saudi Kingdom. Interviewing 17 men from India, Nepal and Pakistan who had worked at Carrefour’s facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam – and analysing other evidence such as employment contracts and audiovisual material - Amnesty International identified similar patterns of labour abuse amongst workers employed by four third-party contractors used by Majid Al Futtaim in Carrefour stores. Like with Amazon, this included cases likely amounting to forced labour and human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation….