In one of the farms in Deir Alla, three Egyptian workers live an inhumane life due to being confined and isolated from the outside world within the farm's fences. Upon entering, they were forced to hand over their passports to the employer under the pretext of "keeping them safe," a common practice faced by foreign workers coming to Jordan for the first time.

The three workers, all under 24 years old, came to work five years ago. Among them is worker Othman Emad (a pseudonym to protect the victim's identity), who wishes they had never come. "As soon as a worker arrives in Jordan, the farm owner asks for their passport under the claim of keeping it safe and ensuring it isn't lost. But he refuses to return it to the worker if requested for any reason," he explains.

This control is reinforced by the security monitoring that migrant workers face, which employers exploit as a means to threaten workers and prevent them from leaving the farm without prior permission. If a worker is caught by authorities without a passport or work permit, they are forcibly returned to the employer.

Worker Ahmed Mustafa (a pseudonym to protect the victim) says: "The employer always scares me with the police because if we don't have our passports, they will catch us and return us to him. The farm owner keeps saying this all the time, and we just want to work without problems."

The issue is not limited to holding passports; it extends to restricting freedom of movement and communication. Workers are prohibited from leaving the farm or speaking to workers on neighboring farms, and even greeting their relatives or acquaintances working nearby is considered a violation. One worker recounts: "When we go out with the farm owner, we're not allowed to look in the direction where people are. The employer is the only one who can return greetings; otherwise, we face problems with him."

In addition, workers endure grueling hours exceeding 18 hours a day, starting from 5 a.m. until late at night, with short breaks of no more than two hours in summer and one hour in winter, according to their accounts. Othman Emad adds: "The employer wants us to work day and night, summer and winter. One day he asked us to work in the rain while our clothes were soaked, insisting that we continue because a worker comes to work, not to rest in winter."

Work Without Rest

Despite signing contracts that include the right to a weekly day off for Egyptian migrant workers, this clause remains a mere formality with no practical implementation in Jordan's Jordan Valley farms. The workers interviewed confirmed that all days of the week are considered mandatory workdays, regardless of their health. Anyone who misses a single day faces a financial deduction equivalent to 15 days' wages.

One Egyptian worker in Deir Alla recalls an incident when he injured his foot with a thorn, causing severe swelling and preventing him from walking. "I missed work for just one day because I couldn't walk. The farm owner wouldn't let me go to the doctor. He told me to burn it with fire and get back to work," he says.

This medical neglect is not isolated but reflects a recurring reality among migrant agricultural laborers, where healthcare is absent, and workers are deprived of basic human rights to rest or treatment.

In addition to being denied weekly leave, migrant workers are prevented from traveling to Egypt to visit their families except under strict conditions during annual leave, if granted, which lasts no more than two to three months without pay. The worker must also provide a replacement for the duration of his absence.

On one occasion, a worker had to secure a replacement to travel for medical treatment and to visit his family after a severe foot infection due to neglect. Upon returning to Jordan, he was not allowed to work anywhere else except the same farm until the employer accepted the replacement and returned his passport and work permit.

Labor Law Violations

Article 4 of Agricultural Workers Regulation No. 19 of 2021 stipulates that agricultural working hours must be eight hours daily and not exceed 48 hours weekly, distributed over six days. However, in reality, agricultural workers work long hours for a monthly wage of no more than 300 Jordanian dinars. Migrant workers do not receive this monthly salary; instead, they are paid a portion, not exceeding $200, every four to five months to send to their families, with no personal allowance throughout the year. Remaining wages may be paid at the end of the season, with deductions for food and drink, according to Othman Emad: "I didn't know what money looked like. The farm owner sends the money to my family and doesn't give me anything." In some cases, the end of the season arrives without paying accumulated wages. One colleague returned to Egypt without receiving his full outstanding pay of 1,700 dinars.

“Bodies Without Souls”

In another farm about four kilometers from the main road, workers spoke to the reporter from behind a door for fear of being seen by the employer. They confirmed they experience the same conditions of confinement, restrictions, and deprivation.

"Nothing is different at all: passports and work permits are held, we can't go out, we can't talk, everything is forbidden, but we must say yes, sir," one of them said.

They feel like "bodies without souls," working without rest, their freedom of movement and speech confiscated, subjected to a system of fear and threats.

Meager Food and Contaminated Water

The farm owner is obliged to provide food and water to workers at his own expense according to verbal agreements, but what is actually provided is insufficient for basic needs. Breakfast is limited to ten falafel balls and half a dinar worth of bread, while drinking water is two meters per week.

Shower and laundry water is taken from an algae-filled agricultural pond with a foul smell, making it unfit for human use and exposing workers to serious skin and respiratory diseases.

During the interview, one worker asked to leave immediately upon hearing the employer's vehicle to avoid any conflict that could result in job loss or deportation, as speaking to anyone is prohibited.

Fifteen other migrant workers live under similar conditions on another farm, where the employer pays only half the wages monthly and allows workers to leave once a month to send money to their families in Egypt, accompanying them personally in a large "Diana" vehicle to the exchange office and back.

Even after their two-year contracts end, workers cannot move to another employer without obtaining a "clearance certificate" from the current employer, who in some cases demands a monetary payment in exchange. Workers are forced to pay due to the lack of legal protection against employer abuse.

Where is Oversight?

Hamadeh Abu Najmeh, Executive Director of the Labor House and former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Labor, says ongoing violations against migrant agricultural workers are mainly due to a shortage of qualified inspectors in the Ministry of Labor, which began monitoring the sector late in 2021 after issuing the agricultural workers regulation. Before that, inspections focused only on work permits without checking for labor violations.

The ministry has about 200 inspectors, according to Abu Najmeh, many of whom hold administrative positions. Vast agricultural areas still require larger teams and double the field effort, posing a real obstacle to oversight. He argues that the solution begins with increasing the number of inspectors, training them professionally, providing appropriate transportation to reach remote farms, and using technology to locate agricultural units to facilitate inspections. He also emphasizes raising awareness among workers and employers about laws prohibiting passport retention, noting that many are unaware this violates the Passport Law and warrants penalties.

Abu Najmeh calls for closer coordination between the Ministries of Labor and Agriculture, the latter working on a project to number and register agricultural units, which would ease inspections and reduce violations. He sees the causes of abuses as shared among migrant workers, employers, and the Ministry of Labor due to the absence of actual complaints despite the existence of the ministry's“Protection” platform, which handles complaints confidentially.

According to a report by Tamkeen Association for Legal Aid and Human Rights, issued at the end of 2023, holding official documents is a common issue among most migrant workers. The report found that most workers do not carry passports or residency or work permits because employers retain them. It also showed that 63% of workers were worried before joining work about confiscation of their documents to restrict movement and prevent job changes, and 61% live in constant fear of detention or deportation by authorities or employers, threatening their livelihood and exposing them to administrative detention.

The report also noted that many employers do not include workers in social security, despite it being mandatory under Article 20(c) of the Social Security Law, constituting a clear legal violation.

At the beginning of 2024, four Jordanian human rights organizations issued a joint policy paper to enhance Egyptian workers' rights, noting that Jordan's low ranking on international indices for modern slavery and human trafficking is directly linked to the reality of Egyptian labor. The paper urged the government to adopt proposed recommendations to improve Jordan's international standing and strengthen the national human rights system.

Among the cases documented by Tamkeen was an Egyptian worker in the northern Jordan Valley, who worked 15 years without pay or renewed work permits, was subjected to beatings and humiliation, denied contact with his family in Egypt, lived in a place used for charcoal production in poor health and psychological conditions, and suffered chronic diseases without treatment. The association reported the violations to the Anti-Trafficking Unit, which visited the site, documented the violations, and referred the case to the public prosecutor; it is still under appeal.

Tamkeen recommended providing safe and easy channels for complaints without fear of retaliation and emphasized the importance of Jordan ratifying the international convention protecting the rights of all migrant workers and their families.

Although Jordan has ratified several international conventions, such as those on forced labor and equal pay, it has not yet joined the UN Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers, ratifying which is essential to enhance legal protection and improve working and living conditions for migrant workers.

This report was produced under the project "Enhancing Migrant Workers' Rights and Combating Human Trafficking," implemented by the Information and Research Center – King Hussein Foundation, in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation – Palestine and Jordan Office. The opinions in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

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