Abstract
Laya Behbahani, who recently completed her MA in Criminology at SFU, will provide media accounts of the experiences of migrant workers in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states of the Middle East against a backdrop of the hybrid legal system and varying innovative, and often evasive, state responses in the GCC. A post-lecture dialogue will be moderated by SFU School of Communication's Adel Iskandar. The lecture will take place on January 31, 2017, at 7:00 PM at the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.
 Co-presented by SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement, SFU's School for International Studies, the Institute for the Humanities at SFU, and the Global Communication MA Double Degree Program.
 Please see the attached PDF for details.
Highlights
Human trafficking in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states of the Middle East is a growing concern
With over 90 per cent of the population constituting as migrant workers in parts of the Gulf, concerns around the gross human rights violations of migrants workers has attracted the much needed attention it deserves
Despite the GCC's claim to be operating according to a hybrid legal system whereby Shariah law, common law and civil law are applied to different realms of social transactions, Behbahani argues that the current treatment of migrant works and related policies and practices in the GCC, are not merely labour violations, but are tantamount to state-sponsored human trafficking
Summary
Human trafficking in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states of the Middle East is a growing concern. Accounts of migrant workers expected to surrender their passports and labour rights upon arrival in the Gulf, signing contracts in languages unbeknownst to them, enduring grave physical, sexual and psychological abuse, and serving as indentured slaves for indefinite periods of time with little or no compensation are not merely sensationalized stories but rather, the lived experiences of a vast number of migrant workers in the GCC. Laya Behbahani, who recently completed her MA in Criminology at SFU, will provide media accounts of the experiences of migrant workers in the GCC against a backdrop of the hybrid legal system and varying innovative, and often evasive, state responses in the GCC.
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