RIYADH, July 17: Saudi Arabia has banned the sale of work permits in a crackdown on the exploitation of foreign workers, the official SPA news agency reported on Saturday.

Until now, Saudis were entitled to sponsor a number of workers, but many often made a profit by transferring them to businesses for a higher fee than they originally paid.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday that foreign workers in the kingdom suffered from extreme exploitation and worked in conditions resembling slavery.

"Labour Minister Ghazi Algosaibi issued an order prohibiting all forms of human trade such as the sale of work permits, obtaining money for employing workers or for entry or exit visas, residency and business licenses," SPA said.

More than six million foreign labourers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, work and live in the oil-rich kingdom. Under Saudi regulations, foreign workers must have a Saudi sponsor to be able to get a work permit.

Saudi Arabia, facing high unemployment, which Algosaibi put at 12 per cent of the labour force, has been pushing Saudi firms to hire more Saudis.

SPA said the order also banned "inhuman employment, inhuman and immoral treatment as well as employment of children and exploiting them".

The Human Rights Watch report said the abuses often involved long working hours, deprivation of food and sometimes rape. It called on de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah to set up an impartial commission to investigate the abuses.-Reuters