U.S. online retail giant Amazon said Friday it has refunded $1.9 million to more than 700 contract workers in Saudi Arabia who were subjected to illegal recruitment fees and other abuses.
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Human rights group Amnesty International in October condemned working conditions for migrants employed by third-party companies at Amazon warehouses in the Gulf Kingdom and urged the multinational to launch an investigation.
“We found cases where contract workers were forced by Saudi recruiters or employment firms to pay professional fees, including recruitment fees and other costs,” the company said in a statement, claiming “$1.9 million in reimbursements paid.” to have over 700 of them.
According to Amazon, the investigation also found other violations of company policies, including “poor housing conditions, irregularities in contracts and wages, and delays in resolving worker complaints,” which says it has imposed improvements on its suppliers.
Amnesty International relied on the testimony of 22 Nepalese who worked in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia between 2021 and 2023.
Thinking about being hired directly by the American company, some had incurred large debts to pay the fees charged by the recruiters before being “deprived of their income, housed in terrible conditions and prevented from getting another job.” find or leave the country”.
Following the publication of the report, Saudi authorities stated that these “alarming facts (…) were already the subject of an ongoing investigation.”
“Amazon’s reimbursement of illegal recruitment fees is an essential step,” responded Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice at Amnesty International. Nevertheless, he is of the opinion that “the hundreds of other workers” who have already left the company and the country must also be taken into account.
They “have likely been subjected to similar abuses, including deception, wage theft and high hiring fees. They also deserve justice and compensation,” he stressed.