When Bahrain abolished much of its expatriate sponsorship system this summer, the move sparked an avalanche of protests from the business community. Executives complained that the move would destroy their businesses and turn employees against them.
“They said there would be chaos in the market,” says Majeed al Alawi, the labour minister. “But cheap labour distorts the whole labour market. We want to ensure the human rights and contractual rights for expatriates are respected.”
