In 2017, the year in which Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ascended to his role, Saudi Arabia introduced Musaned, a regional-first, online platform designed to facilitate the direct hiring of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) to the Kingdom. According to various news reports, the International Labour Organization (ILO) lauded the e-platform for its efforts to provide a comprehensive umbrella for protection of migrant domestic workers’ rights.
ILO, a United Nations (UN) agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards, is said to have released a report regarding ethical and fair work practices, in which Musaned was lauded for its features, according to Saudi Gazette. The news report explained that the platform aims to provide improved services to MDWs by employing “technology in a way that contributes to creating a flexible, transparent, and attractive employment market.”
The latest reforms announced are an important milestone for #Vision2030 and will advance #HumanRights for citizens, residents, visitors and investors in #SaudiArabia. https://t.co/8mGIQCdO4Y pic.twitter.com/jxfm4VqlBI
— HRC International (@HRCSaudi_EN) February 8, 2021
In an earlier 2017 report by ILO, Musaned was described as a unified, transparent system that allows Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development to monitor the contracting process between citizens and recruitment offices. It specifically allows for the issuance of an electronic contract to be signed between the worker and the employer; provides a hotline and center for resolving workers’ complaints; provides training to MDWs on how to lodge grievances; and facilitates the issuance of a SIM card, which includes the guidelines and the hotline number, to all migrant domestic workers upon arrival.
With regards to recruitment agencies, which in many countries in the region have very little state supervision and are at the core of human right abuses, Musaned is said to help in the verification of the solvency of these agencies, and it also registers all violations and includes a blacklist of recruitment agencies who commit abuses. In addition, by allowing employers to hire domestic workers directly, the platform helps to break the geographical monopoly of recruitment offices and increase competition.
Saudi Arabia hopes to improve the satisfaction of foreign workers in the Kingdom, better protect their rights, and boost their productivity in the labor market.https://t.co/zZCXhx0WvU
— About Her (@AboutHerOFCL) November 3, 2020
Musaned also provides an electronic visa service that makes it easier to obtain a new, alternative, or disability visa, and Etawtheq, an electronic service that facilitates the contractual procedures between the local private recruitment offices and external private recruitment offices from other countries.
