Abuse of domestic workers has long been a problem in the Arab world under the “kafala” system, which excludes foreigners from labor laws and makes their residency — and fate — subject to their employer’s whims.
But the global uproar over racism, prompted by the police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, has contributed to heightened dismay over the treatment of these often darker-skinned migrant workers from Africa and Asia and sparked wider debate among Arabs about racism in their own societies.