Many years since her first appearance in the cinematic universe, Natasha Romanoff or Marvel’s Black Widow, made her solo debut in the film “Black Widow.” The film debuted in theaters and on Disney+ on July 9, 2021, a groundbreaking film featuring a prominent ensemble of superwomen. However, the film is stirring the most conversation due to its powerful opening credit sequence.

The scene presents a series of video clips, images and allusions meant to represent the sexual and labor exploitation of women across the globe. More specifically, the opening credit sequence and the movie as a whole point to the fate of trafficked children.

This theme of human trafficking pivots off of Black Widow’s superhero backstory, in which the fictional underground Soviet agency known as the Red Room trafficked Natasha as a young girl. The organization abducted young girls across Eastern Europe and indoctrinated and exploited the girls to do the organization’s bidding.

The Importance of the Opening Credit Sequence

In the opening credit sequence, the audience sees the camera focus on the terrified faces of young girls lined up after traffickers kidnapped them. The opening credits also showcase ominous audio of screaming girls playing in the background of a young Natasha being separated from her younger sister Yelena and subsequent clips show older men manipulating and touching the girls.

Following the scenes, images of forced labor and indoctrination emerge, all of which are too common in the world, not just in Black Widow’s universe. The images and videos culminate in a line spoken near the end of the film by the leader of the Red Room. A man named Dreykov states that the Red Room “[uses] the only natural resource that the world has too much of, girls.”

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), one in three females who are trafficking victims globally are children. The production team behind “Black Widow” was keenly aware of this statistic and wanted to make their movie more impactful. “Black Widow” director, Cate Shortland, intended for themes of human trafficking to come through the film.

Shortland wanted to “intersect [Marvel] with reality,” as the trafficking that defines Natasha Romanoff is based on real events that happen to thousands of young girls every year. Shortland felt that to ignore the blatant trafficking schemes of the Red Room and the atrocities that young girls similar to Natasha faced, notably forced hysterectomies, would be out-of-touch and a disservice to the impact that the film could make on audiences globally.

Human Trafficking in Russia

Russia, the location of the Red Room, comprises human trafficking for the purpose of labor and sex. This fact is on display in the film as there are numerous references to Russian culture and constant use of the Russian language throughout. As a Tier 3 country, the United States Department of State has reported that Russia has made little to no effort to combat trafficking. For example, the Russian government only investigated six trafficking or slavery cases between 2019 and 2020.

The Importance and Impact of Recognition

The UNODC has stressed that any form of awareness that one can cultivate and spread about human trafficking and gender-based violence is essential to alleviating the burdens of victims and preventing trafficking in the future. Marvel’s “Black Widow” raises awareness through the three-minute-long opening credit sequence. Meanwhile, Shortland and the rest of the cast and crew advocate for the forgotten women and those who are victims of violence and exploitation, similar to Marvel’s Black Widow, Natasha herself. Shortland then ends the film with Natasha and Yelena releasing the remaining women and girls from the Red Room in an empowering scene where the women are finally free from their abuse.

– Rebecca Fontana
Photo: Flickr

Kuwait is the fifth-wealthiest Arab country. Its capital, Kuwait City, has a jagged skyline of soaring high-rises and luxurious residential areas. Within its $110.35 billion GDP per capita society and prosperous façade, however, there exists an underworld of poverty, struggle and human trafficking in Kuwait.

The Vulnerabilities of Workers

Up to 90% of all Kuwaiti households employ a domestic worker. Many of them are migrants who are processed in agencies through the kafala or “sponsorship” system. The kafala system makes domestic workers more vulnerable to human trafficking in Kuwait, as, at times, employers choose to exclude agencies and sell workers among themselves. The employers advertise on common social media and online platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Haraj.

An organization of migrant workers called Sandigan Kuwait is on the front lines in the battle for both domestic and non-domestic workers’ rights. The Borgen Project spoke with Mary Ann Abunda, head volunteer and founding chairperson of Sandigan Kuwait and the Sandigan Kuwait Domestic Worker Association, as well as Chito Neri, vice founding chairperson of the Sandigan Kuwait Domestic Workers Association.

Human Trafficking Victims in Kuwait

Abunda and Neri emphasize that one of the main obstacles for both migrant workers and Sandigan Kuwait is the normalcy of human trafficking in Kuwaiti society. Some employers believe that because they pay an agency for a domestic worker, they own that person.

It is common for employers in Kuwait to confiscate their domestic workers’ passports and deny them the ability to leave the house unaccompanied. Employers also prevent workers from contacting their families and subject them to physical and verbal abuse. Workers are also denied days off and are grossly underpaid. Furthermore, sometimes workers are not paid at all. All of this is illegal under Ministerial Decree No. 68 of 2015 Regarding Domestic Workers, but the country rarely enforces the law.

Abunda and Neri told The Borgen Project that the Kuwaiti government provides citizens with food, water, medicine and thousands of Kuwaiti dinars for seemingly every major life event on a monthly basis. Though employers are to allocate a portion of those provisions to their workers, many never give it to them. Despite blatant evidence that poverty exists in Kuwait among migrant workers, the reported rate is 0%.

Sandigan Kuwait and Migrant Workers’ Rights

Sandigan Kuwait fights for migrant workers’ rights through assessment of cases against their exploitative employers as well as through counseling programs to help them heal. “Most of them are victims of human trafficking and human smuggling. So they are already victims before even coming here in Kuwait,” Abunda said, speaking about African migrants in particular.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an added strain on any possible progress in gaining rights for migrant workers. In March 2020, Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior instituted the “Leave Safely” amnesty campaign. Though he intended it to be corrective, the campaign exacerbated aspects of the crisis and made things more difficult for Sandigan Kuwait.

“How can you have an amnesty during a lockdown? During a pandemic? And it was very chaotic,” said Abunda. Neri agreed, explaining that migrants had to leave Kuwait within a month yet airports remained closed. The mad rush of people prevented the Kuwaiti government and Sandigan Kuwait from identifying potential human trafficking or unpaid salary cases before the workers left the country.

The Organization’s Successes

Sandigan Kuwait volunteers worked tirelessly to help migrant workers at the height of the pandemic. They distributed 25,000 food bags to those in need during Kuwait’s lockdown period in 2020. The organization’s other accomplishments include rescuing 65 Filipinos from sex trafficking in 2016.

It was also one of the first organizations in the Middle East to celebrate International Domestic Workers Day. Around that time, the organization was able to give awards to employers who have treated migrant workers well. The situation has slowly improved over the years. The U.S. Department of State classified Kuwait as a Tier 2 country in the 2019 “Trafficking in Persons Report” and the country has since maintained its position by gradually implementing suggestions.

Initiatives to Combat Trafficking and Exploitation

The Kuwaiti government has made some advancements in protecting migrants’ rights. It passed a decree against human trafficking in Kuwait in 2013 and the domestic workers’ law in 2015. The Permanent National Committee for the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prevention of Trafficking emerged in 2018.

In January 2021, Kuwait’s Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) launched a collaborative program with two international organizations and the Supreme Council for Planning and Development. Called Tamkeen, the program aims to digitize PAM’s labor files so as to make them more easily trackable and eliminate loopholes in the records that previously enabled employers to circumvent the labor law. With continued governmental, organizational and international support, the frequency of human trafficking in Kuwait is likely to lessen in the coming years.

Looking to the Future

Abunda and Neri have large-scale aspirations for Sandigan Kuwait’s future projects. These details, however, are not publicized for the safety of both the organization and the people it helps. Through the commitment of Sandigan Kuwait, hope is on the horizon as the rights of vulnerable people are protected and human trafficking in Kuwait is reduced.

– Safira Schiowitz
Photo: Flickr

In April 2021, a young migrant worker named Caroline Aluoch requested permission to return to her home in Kenya. However, her employer denied her due to his rights under the kafala system. A few months later, Aluoch’s family received a report that she had died during her employment sponsorship. Devastated by their loss, Aluoch’s family recently spoke out about how the kafala system renders migrant laborers particularly vulnerable to human trafficking in Saudi Arabia. Here is some information about the problem as well as efforts working towards ending human trafficking in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Labor in Saudi Arabia

Workers from low and middle-income countries often seek better wages by taking on foreign jobs. The migrant laborer population in Saudi Arabia is around 13 million people. It consists of people from South and Southeast Asia and Africa working at jobs in construction, agriculture and domestic service.

Most of these workers enter the country through legal labor channels. These workers must adhere to certain restrictions under the employment sponsorship system. This system, known as kafala, began in the 1950s to promote labor sharing in the Gulf Nations. Without reform, though, restrictions through kafala can force laborers to remain in potentially unsafe and exploitative work environments.

Problems with Kafala

The kafala sponsorship system requires foreign workers to obtain a Saudi sponsor in order to work. The sponsor, who is most often the Saudi employer, has the right to decide if and when a foreign worker can transfer jobs or leave Saudi Arabia. According to the 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIPS) report, one of the most common complaints from exploited migrant workers in Saudi Arabia is that of non- or delayed wage payment. Under the kafala system, workers can become trapped in the unpaid situation.

When laborers face delayed and non-payments, they become more susceptible to economic coercion into other exploitative employment, such as organized begging or commercial sex. As an employment requirement, the kafala system creates a cycle of potential exploitation for foreign workers.

Saudi Government Efforts

In the past few years, officials have developed a legal infrastructure suited to dealing specifically with human trafficking in Saudi Arabia. These specialized courts and screenings intend to protect domestic and foreign trafficked victims and prevent future trafficking. Here are some of the Saudi government’s efforts so far:

• Law enforcement investigated, prosecuted and convicted human traffickers.
• Workshops and seminars instructed recruitment agencies on how to teach foreign workers about their rights.
• The new National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is giving identified trafficking victims the choice of staying in Saudi Arabia and transferring jobs or returning home.
• The Expansion of the Wage Protection System allows the government to monitor delayed or non-paid wages.

Saudi Arabia and many of its labor-sending countries agree that government oversight of labor has improved, which has benefitted domestic and foreign workers.

Reform to Kafala System

While the Kingdom has made great strides to create safeguards and systems to protect potential trafficking victims, stories like Caroline Aluoch’s demonstrate the current dangers of the kafala system. Sponsorship reform is one of the prioritized recommendations for ending human trafficking in Saudi Arabia, according to the TIPS Report.

Because the kafala system is a decades-old, multinational system, progress has been slow. As global labor organizations have pushed for reform of the sponsorship system, some Gulf Nations have altered the employee restrictions within specific countries. In 2021, Saudi Arabia enacted plans to reduce employee restrictions and protect migrant laborers.

Two big changes to the Saudi implementation of the kafala system seem extremely promising; first, laborers will be allowed to leave the Kingdom without explicit permission from their employers. Second, workers will be able to transfer jobs without their employers’ permission once an employment contract ends. These changes should protect workers like Caroline Aluoch, who wanted to return home when she deemed her work environment too dangerous. Reform to the kafala system is a crucial step towards ending human trafficking in Saudi Arabia.

– Hayley Welch
Photo: Flickr