Kuwait moves to protect workers’ rights.

Robert Hamilton
For Al-Shorfa.com
2008-09-25

Labourers work in a street in Kuwait City Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images

The Human Rights Committee of Kuwait’s National Assembly has unveiled a bill containing a series of urgent measures to halt the abuse of foreign workers by employers. The moves would include the revision of the controversial sponsor system and several other labour laws.

In a provisional report submitted to the National Assembly, the committee outlined several forms of abuse that foreign workers face in Kuwait, the Kuwait Times reported on Sept. 9. The report comes in response to a National Assembly request in June that the committee probe illegal visa trading and other violations in the labour market.

Expatriates in Kuwait represent two-thirds of the country’s total population of 3.2 million, according an Aug. 4 Reuters report.

Employees of Kuwaiti's Civil Aviation Labours Union stage a sit-in near Kuwait international airport (KIA) Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images

In late July, thousands of Asian workers (primarily Bangladeshis) went on a three-day strike that turned violent before ending on July 28. The Kuwaiti government admitted that the strike was prompted at least in part by human rights abuses by employers, according to an Aug. 1 Gulf News article.

The most notable violations were delayed payments to workers, lack of suitable housing and pay deductions,” Justice Minister Hussein Al-Huraiti, head of the Human Rights Commission, told the Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) on July 28. “Illegitimate practices by these firms and shortcomings in law enforcement by relevant bodies have led to grave violations of workers’ rights.” The commission’s report highlighted visa trading as the main form of abuse of foreign labour in the country, the Kuwait Times reported, noting that employers were using the illegal visa trade to swindle money from workers desperate to obtain new residence permits or to renew or transfer existing permits.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Bader Al-Duwailah told the National Assembly the government was considering alternatives to the sponsor system as part of a series of measures to halt the abuse of expatriate workers in the country. Al-Duwailah said that the government is also considering the establishment of either a separate ministry for labour or an independent public authority for labour under the council of ministers, according to a Sept. 11 article in the Kuwait Times.

The minister acknowledged that a number of senior officials in the labour department were involved in visa trading scams and said that he had already referred three top officials and a number of employees to investigators, the newspaper reported

The bill stipulates jail terms of up to 15 years for offences including forced labour, abusing workers or sexually exploiting maids, Reuters reported. The bill has to be approved by parliament, the government and the Gulf state's emir before taking effect.

The Kuwait Times reported that among the key abuses of expatriate workers, the committee highlighted low salaries, non-payment of monthly salaries, payment delays, failure to provide appropriate accommodation, failure to provide suitable transportation and forcing workers to work overtime without extra pay.

The report also said that workers were not being paid during sick and annual leaves, and some workers were being forced to sign a document at the start of their job acknowledging that they had received all their financial dues. The Kuwait Times also reported that blackmail and oppressive treatment of workers was rife.

The committee recommended both urgent and long-term proposals to solve the problem, the Kuwait Times reported. Urgent solutions proposed included implementing effective charters and rules to secure the rights of workers regarding salaries, working hours, weekend rest and annual leave, among other issues. The committee also called for the application of strict search and monitoring practices in the labour sector and for effective penalties against violators.

Under long-term solutions, according to the Kuwait Times, the report called for the revision of a number of laws, separating the labour sector from the Ministry of Social Affairs and establishing an independent body for labour.

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