Consultancy: Migrant Workers' Rights Advocacy Expert

Consultancy:
Migrant Workers' Rights Advocacy Expert

Background Information The American Bar Association Center for Global Programs (ABA CGP) is dedicated to advancing global justice, human rights, and sustainable development through three core initiatives: the Center for Human Rights (CHR), the Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI), and the United Nations Representatives. Specifically, ROLI focuses on promoting justice, economic opportunity, and human dignity by strengthening the rule of law.

CHR mobilizes legal professionals to defend threatened advocates, protect vulnerable communities, and hold governments accountable under the law.

The Inter-Regional Action to Advance Migrant Worker Rights in the Gulf and Middle East (G&ME) Program Since December 2024, ABA CGP has implemented a comprehensive program addressing the violations faced by migrant workers in the Gulf and Middle East (G&ME) region. Migrant workers in this region are often subject to the sponsorship (or 'kafala') system, where their legal residency is tied to their employer.

This system dehumanizes migrant workers, treating them as property to be bought and sold, which leads to widespread issues such as wage theft, confiscation of identity documents, deprivation of basic needs, physical or sexual abuse, and harassment. Workers whoattemptto escape abusive employersfrequentlyface deportation and risk being left without documentation. Many of these violations originate at the recruitment stage, where deceptive and exploitative practices—including contract substitution, excessive recruitment fees, and misinformation about working conditions—trap workers in debt and dependency before they even depart their home countries.

Domestic workers, in particular, arehighly vulnerable to exploitation due to the isolated nature of their work in private homes, which hinders their access to support services and the justice system. Many are afraid to report abuse for fear of losing their shelter and legal status. In cases of rape, women face imprisonment for engaging in sex outside of marriage or for becoming pregnant.

African migrant workers, in particular, experience severe racism, whichexacerbatesdiscrimination and hinders their ability to seek protection or organize. Additionally, organizations offering protection services are often underfunded and face significant obstacles in reaching these workers. Despite thehigh levelsof abuse and exploitation, there are limited avenues for African migrant workers to access justice. Barriers include racial and gender biases within the justice system, inadequate legal protections, a lack of qualified legal professionals, and under-resourced civil society organizations (CSOs) that are ill‑equipped to provide high‑quality legal support.

A critical gap in protectionisthelimited capacity of home‑country governments and embassiestoprovide assistance. Many diplomatic missions lack the financial and human resources to offer legal aid, shelter, or emergency repatriation services. Coordination between labor ministries, recruitment agencies, and embassies is often weak, leaving workers without clear avenues for redress. Civil society organizations (CSOs) attempting to fill these gaps are underfunded and often excluded from policy‑making spaces.

Meanwhile, host‑country justice systemsremaininaccessible due to language barriers, restrictive labor laws, and systemic bias against migrant workers.

Objectives ABA CGP seeks to engage an advocacy expert with expertise in migrant workers' rights, preferably with experience in the G&ME region’s context. The expert will develop an advocacy plan based on the outcomes of the online forum, using the findings from the participatory mapping of recruitment agencies.

The expert will be responsible for the following tasks: