Migrant workers, including Bangladeshis employed on the Riyadh Metro project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were forced to pay exorbitant recruitment fees, work in extreme heat and accept meagre wages during a decade of serious exploitation, said the Amnesty International in a report released on Monday.
The report titled 鈥楴obody wants to work in these situations: A decade of exploitation on the Riyadh Metro project鈥� documented widespread labour abuses in the construction of one of Saudi Arabia鈥檚 flagship infrastructure projects.
Promoted as the backbone of Riyadh鈥檚 public transport network, the metro was built by leading Saudi and international companies under government direction.
An estimated 50,000 to 65,000 people work in the project.
The rights organisation interviewed 38 men from Bangladesh, India and Nepal who worked for main contractors, subcontractors and labour suppliers on the Riyadh Metro between 2014 and 2025.
It said that many workers interviewed had paid illegal recruitment fees and then endured long, exhausting hours in unsafe conditions for discriminatory, poverty-level pay.
鈥楤eneath its sleek exterior lies a decade of abuses enabled by a labour system that sacrifices migrant workers鈥� rights,鈥� said Marta Schaaf, programme director for climate, economic social justice and corporate accountability at the Amnesty International.
The rights organisation said that the hardships were intensified by exposure to extreme heat as temperatures continued to rise in the Gulf due to human-induced climate change.
It said that the Saudi authorities had failed for years to enforce protections or dismantle a labour system that left migrant workers highly vulnerable to exploitation.
For nearly all of them, the abuse began at home. Workers reported paying between $700 and $3,500 in recruitment and associated fees 鈥� far exceeding legal limits in origin countries and despite Saudi laws prohibiting worker-borne recruitment costs. Many went into debt before travelling.
Once in Saudi Arabia, many workers earned less than $2 an hour as labourers, cleaners and office assistants. Most of them worked more than 60 hours a week. Although overtime was not always overtly forced, workers said that their wages were so low that the refusal of an overtime offer was not an option.
The long hours were compounded by extreme heat. Workers described the conditions as 鈥榣ike being in hell鈥�, saying the ban on outdoor work under direct sun from midday to 3:00pm offered virtually no protection as temperatures remained above 40C for much of the day.
Workers also reported other abuses, including passport confiscation, overcrowded and unhygienic accommodation, poor-quality food and discriminatory treatment.
The Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabia to fully dismantle 鈥榢afala system鈥�, a sponsorship system that binds migrant workers to an employer, enforce labour laws aligned with global standards and ensure accountability across all tiers of contractors involved in mega-projects, including those linked to the 2034 World Cup.
According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, nearly 50 lakh Bangladeshis have migrated from Bangladesh to the KSA since 2004, making it the largest destination for Bangladeshi labour.