The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the United Arab Emirates’ unclear position on its international commitments regarding exploitative employment practices that target migrant workers in the country. This is carried out by researching the present regulatory framework, which includes the kafala sponsorship system, fundamental labor legislation, and international human rights conventions. For this thesis, the key theories are theories on migration and human rights and analysis on the rights of migrant workers. Also, thesis utilizes a qualitative research method to assess, interpret, and examine the rules and guidelines found in both international and domestic legal systems related to the mistreatment of migrant workers in UAE. Based on the findings, I was able to confirm that the kafala sponsorship system in the UAE has a negative impact on migrant workers and the main reason why exploitation against migrant workers occur lies in the kafala sponsorship system.

Ce travail a pour objet d’étudier la confrontation entre deux systèmes juridiques distincts en matière de mariage et de ses effets. Il s’agit de la réception du droit marocain de la famille qui est d’essence religieux par l’ordre juridique français à travers son droit international privé, un ordre juridique laïque. La première partie de cet ouvrage est consacrée à la compréhension du mariage marocain et de ses effets qui est indispensable pour la réception d’institutions étrangères par l’ordre juridique français. Pour y parvenir, il faut saisir l’évolution de l’institution matrimoniale depuis la création du premier Code de la famille marocain, jusqu'à la réforme de ce dernier en 2004. Elle met en évidence l’assimilation par le législateur marocain du mariage et de ses effets dans un Code de la famille moderne tout en gardant son essence religieuse. Cette approche indispensable conduit à comprendre la portée de la réforme du mariage marocain de 2004 et la difficulté que connait son application. Comprendre ses limites permet de saisir la conception de la notion de famille dans le Maroc d’aujourd’hui. La deuxième partie est consacrée à la réception de cette notion à travers le mariage marocain et ses effets par le droit international privé français. L’étude de l’application des règles de droit international privé montre la difficulté qu’a la loi marocaine à s’appliquer sur le territoire français malgré l’existence de la convention franco-marocaine du 10 aout 1981. Le droit marocain se trouve, malgré sa compétence, soit devant une qualification difficile de ses institutions inconnues de l’ordre juridique français et dans ce cas, il est dénaturé. Soit il est face à l’intervention du mécanisme de l’exception de l’ordre public puisque ses institutions et ses règles sont considérés comme choquant les principes fondamentaux du for et par conséquent, il est écarté. En analysant la méthodologie du droit international privé français, un certain relativisme découle dans l’application de ses modalités ce qui envoie à s’interroger sur les limites du respect des valeurs fondamentales du for. Un relativisme qui se débat entre poursuivre le but du droit international privé d’harmoniser deux systèmes. / This work is to study the confrontation between two distinct legal systems relating to marriage and its effects. It is the receipt of the Moroccan family law which is of religious essence by the legal order french through its international law private, a legal secular. The first part of this book is devoted to understanding Moroccan marriage and its effects which is indispensable for the reception of foreign institutions by the french legal order. Achieve this, to understand the evolution of the marital institution since the creation of the first Code of the Moroccan family, until the reform of the latter in 2004. Ithighlights the assimilation by the Moroccan legislator of the marriage and its effects in a modern family Code while keeping its religious essence. This indispensable approach leads to understand the scope of the reform of the Moroccan wedding of 2004 and the difficulty that knows its application.Understanding its limits allows to capture the design of the concept of family in the Morocco of today.The second part is devoted to this concept through the Moroccan wedding reception and its effects byfrench private international law. The study of the application of the rules of private international law shows the difficulty that Moroccan law applicable on french territory despite the existence of the Franco-Moroccan agreement of 10 August 1981. Moroccan law is, despite its jurisdiction, either before a difficult qualification of its unknown institutions of the french legal system and in this case, it is denatured. It is against the intervention of the mechanism of the public order exception as its institutions and its rules are considered offensive the fundamental principles of the Forum and consequently, he was waived. By analyzing the methodology of french private international law, a certain relativism arises in the application of its provisions that shipments to wonder about the limits of respect for the fundamental values of the Forum. A relativism that struggles between pursuing the goal of private international law to harmonize two different systems.

La thèse présentée ici propose la figure de l’individu servile pour analyser l’expérience migratoire qui est faite au Liban par des migrants non arabes sri lankais et philippins, dont 95% sont des femmes. L’idéal-type de cet individu servile est la femme domestiquée, occupation très largement majoritaire parmi ces migrants dans le cadre d’une délégation du travail reproductif, dont la gradation concerne aussi les hommes. Après une première partie, qui consiste en la présentation de la problématique et des hypothèses de recherche (entre sociologie des migrations internationales, sociologie économique et sociologie de l’individu) et du dispositif méthodologique (successivement s’institutionalisant et se désinstitutionalisant), une seconde partie consiste à mettre en évidence le statut migratoire du Liban, ainsi que le dispositif transnational de production de l’individu servile, en référence à ces nouvelles migrations non arabes dans l’espace migratoire moyen-oriental – et les normes socio-économiques (la kafala et sa pratique au Liban) qui organisent les filières migratoires, distribuent l’occupation et induisent un contrôle par le travail dont le résultat est une négativité généralisée des rapports sociaux ; nous montrons le mécanisme de la fausse reconnaissance sur le site stratégique de la globalisation qu’est le ménage employeur. Enfin, dans une troisième partie, on s’intéresse à la gradation de la délégation du travail reproductif dans la société urbaine libanaise, ainsi qu’aux aspects communautaires de la segmentation des groupes migrants ; et nous proposons une lecture des ruptures biographiques et des recompositions identitaires auxquelles donnent lieu les carrières de migrants, entre les formes de la linéarité, de la discontinuité et de l’errance. / This work tries to set the figure of the individu servile to analyze the migration in Lebanon of non-Arab workers, Sri Lankan and Filipinos; 95% of these workers are women; the very figure of this individu servile is the female live-in domestic worker which is the major occupation in the context of a delegation of reproductive labor that includes also male workers. The first part is to clarify the theoretical framework and the hypothesis that structure this research (between the goals of a sociology of international migrations and those of a sociology of labor markets), and its methodological framework. In a second part, we set the migratory status of Lebanon and the transnational context of the fabrication of the individu servile, with reference to the new migrations in the Middle-East region. The social and economical rules - the kafala system at first - that organize the migration flux, the occupation of workers and their control through the labor process, result in a so-called nŽgativitŽ des rapports sociaux, which lies in an ideological or false process of recognition. In a third part, we show the gradual delegation of reproductive labor in urban Lebanese society, and the aspects of communities social segmentation; and we propose a vision of biographical splitting and subjective or self reconstruction in the process of careers to be distinguished between linearity, discontinuity and errance.

La kafala n’est pas un concept de droit musulman mais un concept nouveau de droit positif. Il est fort complexe dès lors qu’il est analysé sous l’angle juridique. Sa complexité est inhérente aux multiples questions qu’il soulève. La kafala ne crée pas de filiation, mais confère l’autorité parentale , et le nom pour l’enfant makfoul sans filiation. La transposition de la kafala en droit français a posé problème. L’interdiction de l’adoption posée par le droit algérien a eu un impact négatif sur la kafala car elle est souvent comparée à l’adoption. Le droit français a en effet interdit l’adoption d’un enfant recueilli par kafala. Le makfoul souvent sans filiation n’a pas de statut juridique en France. / Kafala is not an Islamic law concept but a new concept of positive Law. Kafala is a complex legal concept. Its complexity is inherent to the many legal questions it raises. Kafala does not create affiliation, but confers parental authority, and a name for the makfoul (adopted child) without filiation. The transposition of the concept of kafala by the French law has generated a problem. The prohibition of adoption imposed by the Algerian law has had a negative impact on the kafala concept because it is often compared to adoption. French law has actually banned the adoption of a child raised by kafala. The makfoul , often without filiation, has no legal status in France

Arbetsmigration av en temporär natur är ett vanligt förekommande fenomen i Förenade Arabemiraten. Temporaliteten upprätthålls genom tillämpningen av det kafala systemet vilket tillhandahåller och legitimerar emirati-medborgares auktoritet över arbetsmigranterna. En arbetsmigrant måste nämligen tilldelas en sponsor i Förenade Arabemiraten för att beviljas arbeta i federationen och detta ansvar har allokerats till federationens medborgare. Denna uppsats argumenterar för att historiska, politiska och sociala dimensioner av det kafala systemet konstruerar en oundviklig konfliktfylld relation mellan medborgare och arbetsmigranter. Denna relation grundar sig huvudsakligen i respektives utsatta och inskränkta tillvaro i Förenade Arabemiraten - en tillvaro som är utformad och rättfärdigad av det kafala systemet. Så länge det kafala systemet förekommer och brukas i Förenade Arabemiraten kommer relationen mellan emirati-medborgare och de arbetsmigranter som residerar i federationen vara präglad av konflikter och differentiering.

Ce mémoire traite du droit de l’adoption dans une perspective comparative entre régimes arabo-musulman, français et québécois. Dans un premier temps est abordée la place de l’enfant dans l’Islam : de sa conception au sein de la famille musulmane à l’ensemble de ses droits selon le droit religieux. Ce tour d’horizon permet d’aborder l’épineux problème de l’interdiction de l’adoption par le Coran et les alternatives qui ont été développées pour y remédier, plus particulièrement la kafala. La kafala sera expliquée et située dans l’ordre public international, puis examinée au regard de quatre législations arabes : le Maroc, la Tunisie, l’Algérie et le Liban. Dans un deuxième temps, la question sera examinée d’un point de vue occidental. Il y sera analysé la possibilité et les difficultés entourant l’application des règles musulmanes de statut personnel en France et au Québec. Finalement sera abordé l’accueil que ces deux sociétés ont réservé à la kafala dans leur système respectif. / This thesis examines adoption law in comparative perspectives between Arab-Muslim, French and Quebec legal systems. First is reviewed the position of children within Islamic law: from a child’s legal status within the traditional Muslim family, to its aggregate statutory rights within Shari’a law. This overview subsequently allows for a discourse on the ban to adopt in the Qu’ran, and the alternatives developed around this thorny issue, notably the idea of “guardianship” or “kafala”. Specifically, the Kafala is reviewed with regards to international public policy and vis-à-vis four different legislative contexts: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon. Secondly, the issue is then judged from a Western perspective; discussing hitherto the problems surrounding the application of Muslim law on personal statutory rights in France, and on personal statutory rights in Quebec. Finally, this thesis considers how the latter two societies have welcomed the concept of Kafala within their respective legal systems.

La lourdeur de la procédure française d'adoption, ainsi que la baisse du nombre d'enfants adoptables ne permettent pas de répondre à la demande d'enfant des candidats à l'adoption. Ces derniers se rendent alors à l'étranger chercher ce qu'ils ne trouvent pas en France. Or, le recours aux filiations électives étrangères (adoption internationale ou maternité pour autrui) conduit les candidats à l'adoption ou les couples intentionnels français à conclure de nombreux contrats. On assiste alors à une véritable contractualisation des filiations électives, qui se développe en France, contre toute attente, le droit tentant de maintenir l'état et la capacité des personnes en dehors de la sphère contractuelle. L' étude de l'autonomie de la volonté dans les filiations électives met ainsi en parallèle, et parfois en opposition, plusieurs intérêts: celui des parents électifs ou biologiques, celui de l'enfant, mais aussi celui de l 'Etat qui entend préserver certains principes comme l'indisponibilité du corps humain ou l'état des personnes. La conciliation de ces différents intérêts doit donc passer par la mise en place d'un cadre juridique. Toutefois, dans un contexte de mondialisation (forum et law shopping, etc.), le problème de la réglementation de l'expression de la volonté dans les filiations électives entraine d'autres difficultés telles que la qualification juridique des accords conclus dans le cadre de l'adoption ou dans le cadre d'un recours aux mères porteuses, le refus de reconnaissance de la filiation établie à l'étranger ainsi que le statut de l'enfant. / A cumbersome process combined with fewer adoptable children impedes French demands for adoption which results in the potential parents seeking solutions abroad. Resorting to optional filiation through international adoption or surrogacy leads prospective French parents or actual candidates, to enter multiple contracts. This contractualization of optional filiations has surprisingly swept across France, clashing against principles of French law calling for a protection of the personal status and capacity by keeping them out of contracts. This study on freedom of will within the process of optional filiation highlights the tension between the prospective and also the biological parents', and the child's interests. This study also puts in perspective those interests with that of the State which intends to guard principles such as inalienability of the human body. In order to make sure every interest is taken into account, such a process needs to be regulated, and a legal framework needs to be implemented. However, in a world where globalization is the trend (forum shopping, law shopping) finding common ground to set rules and regulations regarding the optional filiation process is easier said than done and raises many difficulties concerning the adopted childÕs status and the refusal to recognize filiation through foreign adoption. Such a process also raises questions: What legal qualification should apply to agreements within the adoption process or in case of surrogacy contracts?

Ce mémoire traite du droit de l’adoption dans une perspective comparative entre régimes arabo-musulman, français et québécois. Dans un premier temps est abordée la place de l’enfant dans l’Islam : de sa conception au sein de la famille musulmane à l’ensemble de ses droits selon le droit religieux. Ce tour d’horizon permet d’aborder l’épineux problème de l’interdiction de l’adoption par le Coran et les alternatives qui ont été développées pour y remédier, plus particulièrement la kafala. La kafala sera expliquée et située dans l’ordre public international, puis examinée au regard de quatre législations arabes : le Maroc, la Tunisie, l’Algérie et le Liban. Dans un deuxième temps, la question sera examinée d’un point de vue occidental. Il y sera analysé la possibilité et les difficultés entourant l’application des règles musulmanes de statut personnel en France et au Québec. Finalement sera abordé l’accueil que ces deux sociétés ont réservé à la kafala dans leur système respectif. / This thesis examines adoption law in comparative perspectives between Arab-Muslim, French and Quebec legal systems. First is reviewed the position of children within Islamic law: from a child’s legal status within the traditional Muslim family, to its aggregate statutory rights within Shari’a law. This overview subsequently allows for a discourse on the ban to adopt in the Qu’ran, and the alternatives developed around this thorny issue, notably the idea of “guardianship” or “kafala”. Specifically, the Kafala is reviewed with regards to international public policy and vis-à-vis four different legislative contexts: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon. Secondly, the issue is then judged from a Western perspective; discussing hitherto the problems surrounding the application of Muslim law on personal statutory rights in France, and on personal statutory rights in Quebec. Finally, this thesis considers how the latter two societies have welcomed the concept of Kafala within their respective legal systems.

The proliferation in the number of domestic migrant workers (DMWs), who travel from poorer countries to work in homes in wealthier countries, represents an essential dimension of globalization in the 21st century. This project focuses on DMWs in Lebanon. In an increasingly globalized world, the study of DMWs, who number around 250,000 in Lebanon (Amnesty International, 2019), provides a critical case to understand how the transborder movement of humans generates unique and challenging human rights issues. Lebanon practices the kafala system, which is prevalent in other Middle Eastern countries and makes foreign workers legally dependent on their employment. This system has often been associated with modern-day slavery as employers gain complete authority over their workers' freedoms and rights. This thesis explores how factors such as the COVID outbreak and characteristics specific to Lebanon, such as massive anti-government protests, the economic downturn, and the Beirut Blast, deepen the precarity of DMWs, including their access to protection from physical and sexual abuse and financial wellbeing. The thesis also includes a discussion of reform attempts and activism on behalf of DMWs in the country. As well as utilizing news articles, reports, and prior literature, this thesis incorporates interviews with workers, their employers, and NGO workers in the country. By collecting information while the crises are taking place, this research presents unique details about the position of workers as they respond to one challenge after the next. The study confirms the vulnerability of DMWs in times of crisis, highlighting that events such as the anti-government protests failed to advocate for worker's rights, and crises such as the economic collapse, COVID pandemic, and Beirut Blast created strong nationalistic sentiment that ignored the status of DMWs. Instead of being enabled by progressive demands for Lebanon's government reform, DMWs were disabled in self-advocacy; instead, much of that activism has taken place on their behalf through NGOs. The thesis attempts to shed light on areas that require immediate attention, including the need to compare Lebanese reforms to those in other states and the necessity of including DMWs in Lebanese labor laws.

Labour migration to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has been occurring forseveral decades. Most of the GCC countries regulate this process through the Kafala System, alegal regime through which individuals and companies can sponsor foreigners with whom theyhave concluded an employment contract. But why do these countries bring millions of foreignersto their lands and what rights does the Kafala System guarantee them? Are there any negativeeconomic and political consequences that result from the way that the Kafala System has beenconceived in the GCC countries? If so, how can this system be reformed so that it produces moredesirable economic and political outcomes? This thesis explores these questions in the contextof the Kafala System in Saudi Arabia. It uses a New Institutional Economics (NIE) approach tounderstand the political, economic, and historical context within which the Kafala System arose,positing that the design of the system reflects a desire to promote economic growth and improvepolitical stability while remaining rooted in the Islamic identity of Saudi Arabia. It further showsthat for a long time, the Kafala System was successful in furthering these objectives. However, ithas lately become prone to producing suboptimal outcomes. Foreign direct investment in SaudiArabia has gone down, remittance outflows as a percentage of GDP have increased, skilled andhighly skilled workers are leaving the kingdom, and even Saudi Arabia’s political stability has beenreduced. Given all of these problems, the thesis uses Path Dependence (PD) theory to argue thatthe only reason that the Kafala System continues to be in place is that it has become a path-­‐dependent institution that is resistant to change. This took place in three steps: (1) the initial setof choices that created the Kafala System were informed by important economic and politicalconsiderations as well as an affirmation of the Kingdom’s commitment to tie all legal institutionsto an Islamic source, (2) the Kafala System successfully helped Saudi Arabia achieve rapideconomic growth and increased political stability, outcomes which served as a positive feedbackeffect, and (3) the continued use of the Kafala System has increased switching costs because oflearning effects, coordination effects, and adaptive expectations. The thesis then argues that inorder to successfully reform this system, it is important in the first instance to justify proposedchanges in light of Islamic teachings, since this will improve how receptive Saudi society is tothem. At the same time, it is also necessary to show that changes in the international investmentclimate and the transition to a global information economy constitute a ‘critical juncture’ duringwhich the problem of switching costs can be overcome and far-­‐reaching reforms can besuccessful. Of course, it goes without saying that reforms that increase protections for the rightsof workers would also align Saudi Arabia’s domestic law with its international treaty obligations.