KUWAIT CITY, Oct 10: An Asian expatriate accused his sponsor of physically assaulting him for not washing his car.
In a case registered at the Sulaibiya police station, the expatriate told security officers that he sustained several injuries after the sponsor attacked him. The Asian also brought a medical report from the hospital to support his claims.
Security officers recorded details of the incident and investigations are on to summon the accused for questioning.
Monday, March 15, 2010
No sponsor transfer requests processed
Unmarried men continue to face housing discrimination
Following is the second and last part of the ‘Report on Human Rights Practices’ on Kuwait issued by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Thursday evening. The first part was published in Saturday’s issue.
The resolution excludes domestic workers, public sector workers, and foreign workers involved in finance management, thereby applying to approximately two-thirds of the country's two million foreign workers. At year's end the MOSAL had not processed any sponsor transfer requests.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov/g/tip.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and imposes penalties against employers who refrain from hiring persons with disabilities without reasonable cause. The law also mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The government generally enforced these provisions. There were no specific reports of discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, noncitizens with disabilities did not have access to government-operated facilities or receive stipends paid to citizens with disabilities, which covered transportation, housing, job training, and social welfare.
Representatives from ministries, other governmental bodies, Kuwait University, and several NGOs constituted the government's Higher Council for Handicapped Affairs, which made policy recommendations, provided financial aid to persons with disabilities, and facilitated the integration of such persons into schools, jobs, and other social institutions. The government supervised and contributed to schools and job and training programs that catered to persons with special needs.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Homosexuality and cross-dressing are illegal. The law punishes homosexual behavior between men older than 21 with imprisonment of up to seven years; those engaging in homosexual activity with men younger than 21 may be imprisoned for as long as 10 years. In 2007 the National Assembly approved a law to impose a fine of 1,059 dinars ($3,690) and/or one year's imprisonment for those imitating the appearance of the opposite sex in public. There are no laws that criminalize sexual behavior between women.
During the year there were more than a dozen reports of police arresting transgender persons at malls and markets, taking them into custody, beating them and shaving their heads, and then releasing them without charges. For example, on March 10, MOI Criminal Investigations Division officers raided a cafe, arresting five men for cross-dressing.
There were no official NGOs focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender matters. Societal discrimination based on sexual orientation was common; official discrimination was less so. There was no government response to either.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
There was no reported societal violence or discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Unmarried men continued to face housing discrimination based solely on marital status. Although the law prohibits single men from obtaining accommodation in many urban residential areas, at year's end the government had not fulfilled a plan to construct housing for them on the outskirts of the capital.
Section 7 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
With the exceptions of the country's approximately 560,000 domestic servants and an unknown number of maritime employees, the law provides that workers have the restricted right to join unions without previous authorization. Although 1.5 million foreign workers who are not domestic workers can join unions, they cannot run or vote in board elections. An estimated 100,000 persons, or 5 percent, of a total workforce of two million were organized into unions, mostly in the public sector or petroleum industry. The law empowers the government to interfere significantly in union activities, including the right to strike; however, the government did not impede strikes. To hold a legal strike, a union must obtain permission from the MOI, which did not grant permission for any of the strikes that took place during the year.
The government restricts the right of freedom of association to only one union per occupational trade and permits only one federation, the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), which comprises 15 of the 47 licensed unions. Some workers were dissatisfied with the KTUF and instead joined the unlicensed National Trade Union Federation. The law stipulates that any new union must include at least 100 workers, 15 of them citizens. Both the International Labor Organization and the International Trade Union Confederation criticized this requirement because it discourages unions in sectors that employ few citizens, such as the construction industry and much of the private sector.
The government essentially treated licensed unions as parastatal organizations, providing as much as 90 percent of their budgets and inspecting financial records. Union leaders and board members are elected by the union members, who are citizens. It is prohibited for unions to discuss political, religious, or sectarian issues. The law empowers the courts to dissolve any union for violating labor laws or for threatening "public order and morals," although such a court decision may be appealed. The MOSAL can request the dissolution of a union through the Court of First Instance. The Amir also may dissolve a union by decree. No union was dissolved during the year. The government denied several public sector and oil sector unions' applications for official recognition during the year on the grounds that the law does not allow for more than one union to represent the same profession or organization.
The law denies domestic servants (one-third of the noncitizen workforce) and maritime employees the right to associate and organize. It also discriminates against more than one million other foreign workers by denying them union voting rights, barring them from leadership positions, and permitting them to join unions only after five years of residence, although the KTUF stated that this last requirement was not widely enforced in practice. During the year, for the first time, the KTUF worked to promote the rights of noncitizen workers, cooperating with the Embassy of Pakistan to settle the labor disputes of several Pakistani workers in the country.The law limits the right of workers, especially noncitizens, to strike. Most labor disputes are resolved in compulsory negotiations; if not, either party may petition the MOSAL for mediation. If mediation fails the dispute is referred to a labor arbitration board composed of officials from the Court of Appeals, the Attorney General's Office, and the MOSAL. The law does not contain any provision ensuring protecting strikers from legal or administrative action taken against them by the government. Employers generally try to settle disputes with workers themselves to retain them.
Foreign workers went on strike several times during the year. Most striking workers were employees of cleaning and security companies who claimed they had not received their salaries. In these instances the MOSAL responded by attempting to negotiate a settlement between the workers and the employers.
On April 26, more than 300 cleaning and security company workers staged a strike, claiming they had not received their salaries for four months. The MOSAL summoned the owner of the company and made him pay all late wages.
On July 19, an estimated 120 cleaning workers gathered in front of the Capital Labor Department, claiming they had not received their salaries for more than six months and their company had not renewed their residencies. The MOSAL summoned the owner of the company and made him pay all late wages.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides workers, with the exceptions of domestic servants, maritime workers, and civil servants, with the right to bargain collectively, subject to certain restrictions; the government generally respected in practice the rights of those workers covered by the law. Collective agreements covered approximately 70 percent of the labor force. There are no restrictions on collective bargaining. There is no minimum number of workers needed for such agreements.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and employer interference with union functions, and the government generally protected those rights. Any worker alleging antiunion discrimination has the right to appeal to the judiciary. Employers found guilty of such discrimination must reinstate workers fired for union activities. There were no reports of discrimination against employees based on their affiliation with a union. There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, "except in cases specified by law for national emergency and with just remuneration"; however, there were reports that such practices occurred. Domestic servitude and forced prostitution were the most common types of forced labor.
Some foreign domestic workers, often trafficked, were victims of forced labor. Physical or sexual abuse of female domestic workers was a serious problem, and police and courts took action against employers when presented with evidence of serious abuse.
There were frequent reports of domestic workers allegedly committing or attempting suicide because of desperation over poor working conditions or abuse. For example, on August 16, a Sri Lankan domestic employee sustained injuries after a failed attempt to commit suicide by jumping from a roof. She alleged that her employer had punished her by pouring boiling oil on her and making her stand on the roof. Authorities took the employee to the hospital and questioned her employer.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The law prohibits child labor; however, there were credible reports of underage workers, including domestic servants.
The legal minimum age for employment is 18; however, employers may obtain permits from the MOSAL to employ juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 in nonhazardous trades. Juveniles may work a maximum of six hours a day on the condition that they work no more than four consecutive hours followed by a one-hour rest period.
There were reports that some children were trafficked to the country to provide domestic labor, and some underage workers reportedly falsified their ages to enter the country. There were few reports of underage Asian girls working as domestic servants after entering the country on false travel documents obtained in source countries. Approximately 300 inspectors from the Labor Inspection Department monitored private firms routinely for labor law compliance, including laws against child labor. Noncompliant employers were fined or their company operations were suspended.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The public sector minimum wage for citizens was 217 dinars ($756) per month, and the public sector noncitizen wage was 97 dinars ($338). The public sector minimum wage provided a decent standard of living for a citizen worker and family. There was no legal minimum wage in the private sector, except for those domestic workers who had signed contracts in 2006 who received at least 40 dinars ($140) per month. The MOSAL implemented the minimum wage effectively by requiring companies to provide a monthly wage report with supporting documents.
The law establishes general conditions of work for the private sector. The law limits the standard workweek to 48 hours (40 hours for the petroleum industry) with one full day of rest per week and one hour of rest after every five consecutive hours of work. These standards were not well enforced, and domestic servants and other unskilled foreign workers in the private sector frequently worked in excess of 48 hours a week, often with no day of rest. Workers submitted complaints to the MOSAL's Labor Disputes Department.
The government issued occupational health and safety standards; however, compliance and enforcement by the MOSAL appeared poor, especially with respect to unskilled foreign laborers. A September MOSAL report stated that in the previous 12 months approximately 20,000 industrial and commercial firms had negligently violated professional safety standards and that 3,313 workers were injured on the job. To decrease accident rates, the government periodically inspected enterprises to raise awareness among workers and employers and to ensure that they abided by safety rules, controlled pollution resulting from certain industries, trained workers to use machines, and reported violations. Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued employment, and legal protection existed for both citizen and foreign workers who filed complaints about such conditions.
In past years government attention to worker safety issues was limited, resulting in poor training of inspectors, inadequate injury reports, and no link between insurance payments and accident reports. No such cases were reported during the year.
The law provides that all outdoor work stop between noon and 4:00 p.m. during the months of June, July, and August or when the temperature rises to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in the shade. The MOSAL monitored work sites to ensure compliance with these rules. There were no reports of violations during the year.
Unmarried men continue to face housing discrimination
Following is the second and last part of the ‘Report on Human Rights Practices’ on Kuwait issued by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Thursday evening. The first part was published in Saturday’s issue.
The resolution excludes domestic workers, public sector workers, and foreign workers involved in finance management, thereby applying to approximately two-thirds of the country's two million foreign workers. At year's end the MOSAL had not processed any sponsor transfer requests.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov/g/tip.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and imposes penalties against employers who refrain from hiring persons with disabilities without reasonable cause. The law also mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The government generally enforced these provisions. There were no specific reports of discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, noncitizens with disabilities did not have access to government-operated facilities or receive stipends paid to citizens with disabilities, which covered transportation, housing, job training, and social welfare.
Representatives from ministries, other governmental bodies, Kuwait University, and several NGOs constituted the government's Higher Council for Handicapped Affairs, which made policy recommendations, provided financial aid to persons with disabilities, and facilitated the integration of such persons into schools, jobs, and other social institutions. The government supervised and contributed to schools and job and training programs that catered to persons with special needs.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Homosexuality and cross-dressing are illegal. The law punishes homosexual behavior between men older than 21 with imprisonment of up to seven years; those engaging in homosexual activity with men younger than 21 may be imprisoned for as long as 10 years. In 2007 the National Assembly approved a law to impose a fine of 1,059 dinars ($3,690) and/or one year's imprisonment for those imitating the appearance of the opposite sex in public. There are no laws that criminalize sexual behavior between women.
During the year there were more than a dozen reports of police arresting transgender persons at malls and markets, taking them into custody, beating them and shaving their heads, and then releasing them without charges. For example, on March 10, MOI Criminal Investigations Division officers raided a cafe, arresting five men for cross-dressing.
There were no official NGOs focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender matters. Societal discrimination based on sexual orientation was common; official discrimination was less so. There was no government response to either.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
There was no reported societal violence or discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Unmarried men continued to face housing discrimination based solely on marital status. Although the law prohibits single men from obtaining accommodation in many urban residential areas, at year's end the government had not fulfilled a plan to construct housing for them on the outskirts of the capital.
Section 7 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
With the exceptions of the country's approximately 560,000 domestic servants and an unknown number of maritime employees, the law provides that workers have the restricted right to join unions without previous authorization. Although 1.5 million foreign workers who are not domestic workers can join unions, they cannot run or vote in board elections. An estimated 100,000 persons, or 5 percent, of a total workforce of two million were organized into unions, mostly in the public sector or petroleum industry. The law empowers the government to interfere significantly in union activities, including the right to strike; however, the government did not impede strikes. To hold a legal strike, a union must obtain permission from the MOI, which did not grant permission for any of the strikes that took place during the year.
The government restricts the right of freedom of association to only one union per occupational trade and permits only one federation, the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), which comprises 15 of the 47 licensed unions. Some workers were dissatisfied with the KTUF and instead joined the unlicensed National Trade Union Federation. The law stipulates that any new union must include at least 100 workers, 15 of them citizens. Both the International Labor Organization and the International Trade Union Confederation criticized this requirement because it discourages unions in sectors that employ few citizens, such as the construction industry and much of the private sector.
The government essentially treated licensed unions as parastatal organizations, providing as much as 90 percent of their budgets and inspecting financial records. Union leaders and board members are elected by the union members, who are citizens. It is prohibited for unions to discuss political, religious, or sectarian issues. The law empowers the courts to dissolve any union for violating labor laws or for threatening "public order and morals," although such a court decision may be appealed. The MOSAL can request the dissolution of a union through the Court of First Instance. The Amir also may dissolve a union by decree. No union was dissolved during the year. The government denied several public sector and oil sector unions' applications for official recognition during the year on the grounds that the law does not allow for more than one union to represent the same profession or organization.
The law denies domestic servants (one-third of the noncitizen workforce) and maritime employees the right to associate and organize. It also discriminates against more than one million other foreign workers by denying them union voting rights, barring them from leadership positions, and permitting them to join unions only after five years of residence, although the KTUF stated that this last requirement was not widely enforced in practice. During the year, for the first time, the KTUF worked to promote the rights of noncitizen workers, cooperating with the Embassy of Pakistan to settle the labor disputes of several Pakistani workers in the country.The law limits the right of workers, especially noncitizens, to strike. Most labor disputes are resolved in compulsory negotiations; if not, either party may petition the MOSAL for mediation. If mediation fails the dispute is referred to a labor arbitration board composed of officials from the Court of Appeals, the Attorney General's Office, and the MOSAL. The law does not contain any provision ensuring protecting strikers from legal or administrative action taken against them by the government. Employers generally try to settle disputes with workers themselves to retain them.
Foreign workers went on strike several times during the year. Most striking workers were employees of cleaning and security companies who claimed they had not received their salaries. In these instances the MOSAL responded by attempting to negotiate a settlement between the workers and the employers.
On April 26, more than 300 cleaning and security company workers staged a strike, claiming they had not received their salaries for four months. The MOSAL summoned the owner of the company and made him pay all late wages.
On July 19, an estimated 120 cleaning workers gathered in front of the Capital Labor Department, claiming they had not received their salaries for more than six months and their company had not renewed their residencies. The MOSAL summoned the owner of the company and made him pay all late wages.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law provides workers, with the exceptions of domestic servants, maritime workers, and civil servants, with the right to bargain collectively, subject to certain restrictions; the government generally respected in practice the rights of those workers covered by the law. Collective agreements covered approximately 70 percent of the labor force. There are no restrictions on collective bargaining. There is no minimum number of workers needed for such agreements.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and employer interference with union functions, and the government generally protected those rights. Any worker alleging antiunion discrimination has the right to appeal to the judiciary. Employers found guilty of such discrimination must reinstate workers fired for union activities. There were no reports of discrimination against employees based on their affiliation with a union. There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, "except in cases specified by law for national emergency and with just remuneration"; however, there were reports that such practices occurred. Domestic servitude and forced prostitution were the most common types of forced labor.
Some foreign domestic workers, often trafficked, were victims of forced labor. Physical or sexual abuse of female domestic workers was a serious problem, and police and courts took action against employers when presented with evidence of serious abuse.
There were frequent reports of domestic workers allegedly committing or attempting suicide because of desperation over poor working conditions or abuse. For example, on August 16, a Sri Lankan domestic employee sustained injuries after a failed attempt to commit suicide by jumping from a roof. She alleged that her employer had punished her by pouring boiling oil on her and making her stand on the roof. Authorities took the employee to the hospital and questioned her employer.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The law prohibits child labor; however, there were credible reports of underage workers, including domestic servants.
The legal minimum age for employment is 18; however, employers may obtain permits from the MOSAL to employ juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 in nonhazardous trades. Juveniles may work a maximum of six hours a day on the condition that they work no more than four consecutive hours followed by a one-hour rest period.
There were reports that some children were trafficked to the country to provide domestic labor, and some underage workers reportedly falsified their ages to enter the country. There were few reports of underage Asian girls working as domestic servants after entering the country on false travel documents obtained in source countries. Approximately 300 inspectors from the Labor Inspection Department monitored private firms routinely for labor law compliance, including laws against child labor. Noncompliant employers were fined or their company operations were suspended.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The public sector minimum wage for citizens was 217 dinars ($756) per month, and the public sector noncitizen wage was 97 dinars ($338). The public sector minimum wage provided a decent standard of living for a citizen worker and family. There was no legal minimum wage in the private sector, except for those domestic workers who had signed contracts in 2006 who received at least 40 dinars ($140) per month. The MOSAL implemented the minimum wage effectively by requiring companies to provide a monthly wage report with supporting documents.
The law establishes general conditions of work for the private sector. The law limits the standard workweek to 48 hours (40 hours for the petroleum industry) with one full day of rest per week and one hour of rest after every five consecutive hours of work. These standards were not well enforced, and domestic servants and other unskilled foreign workers in the private sector frequently worked in excess of 48 hours a week, often with no day of rest. Workers submitted complaints to the MOSAL's Labor Disputes Department.
The government issued occupational health and safety standards; however, compliance and enforcement by the MOSAL appeared poor, especially with respect to unskilled foreign laborers. A September MOSAL report stated that in the previous 12 months approximately 20,000 industrial and commercial firms had negligently violated professional safety standards and that 3,313 workers were injured on the job. To decrease accident rates, the government periodically inspected enterprises to raise awareness among workers and employers and to ensure that they abided by safety rules, controlled pollution resulting from certain industries, trained workers to use machines, and reported violations. Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued employment, and legal protection existed for both citizen and foreign workers who filed complaints about such conditions.
In past years government attention to worker safety issues was limited, resulting in poor training of inspectors, inadequate injury reports, and no link between insurance payments and accident reports. No such cases were reported during the year.
The law provides that all outdoor work stop between noon and 4:00 p.m. during the months of June, July, and August or when the temperature rises to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in the shade. The MOSAL monitored work sites to ensure compliance with these rules. There were no reports of violations during the year.
New labor law becomes … law
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 21: The new Kuwait labor law has become law after being published in the official Kuwait Gazette on Feb 21 relieving expatriates and renewing their hope of a better future working in the country.
The law, which has updated provisions regarding salary, public holidays, paid leave, sick leave as well as end of service payments deemed suitable for employees and their employers, was approved by the National Assembly last year and was sent to the Kuwait Cabinet before being sent to His Highness the Amir for endorsement.
Expatriates in Kuwait expressed a positive outlook to the Arab Times saying that their rights should now finally be fully-considered by employers. “This is an excellent initiative by the government of Kuwait in order to protect the rights of the expatriate community in Kuwait, however, it still remains to be seen if the law will be fully implemented, which is equally important,” says Sidiq Valayakath who is President of the Federation of Indian Muslim Associations (FIMA).
Valayakath added that this initiative still does not include the rights of domestic workers who make a large portion of the working community in Kuwait. “It is our desire that domestic workers are not overlooked as well. The provisions that I believe will have the most impact are the provisions on annual leave and payment of salary,” he said.
The new labor law mandates that salaries of all employees be sent to banks before the 7th of each month. It also allows employees paid leave on all official holidays, a day off every week, and 30 days of annual leave even during the first year of work. Article 76 grants 21 days paid Hajj pilgrimage leave to an employee who has spent two consecutive years in service under the same employer and has never performed the Hajj pilgrimage previously.
Leave must also be granted to the employees on all the 13 days of public holidays and if workers are made to work on public holidays, they must be given a bonus of half-a-day’s salary in addition to a full day’s pay.
Furthermore, a worker is entitled to 40 days of paid sick leave, with full pay for the first 10 days, 75 percent pay for the next 10 days, 50 percent pay for the following 10 days and 25 percent pay for the last 10 days. An employee is entitled up to 30 days of unpaid sick leave if all his/her paid sick leaves are used up.
According to article 51 of the labor law, a worker will get complete end-of-service compensation at the end of the contract period. The employee is entitled to full indemnity if the contract is terminated by the employer, or the employment contract ends without being renewed. A female employee can get full indemnity if she terminates the contract from her side due to marriage within a year from her marriage date.
“This is very good news for us as expatriates in Kuwait as this new law has made us believe that Kuwait has become more concerned with our basic rights as workers like a lot of other developed countries around the world which is what we everyone in living in a foreign country should expect. I am especially relieved about the end of service indemnity provisions so now I can work hard knowing I will be taken care of,” said Rasha Goma, an Egyptian female working at the North Africa Holding Company in Kuwait.
Article 53 states that the employee is entitled to half month’s salary for every year if the employee resigns after more than three years and less than five years in the service. If the employee resigns after five years but less than ten years of service, he is entitled to 75 percent of the monthly salary for every year. Beyond 10 years, the employee gets a full month’s salary as compensation for every year of service.
Other provisions include rights of employed women including article 22, which prohibits the employment of women from 10 pm to 7 am except those who work in treatment homes or other institutions specified in a decision issued by the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor.
Amna Al-Jaray, Action Global Communications country manager said that what has always concerned her was the period of maternity leave available; “Previously I was allowed 40 days maternity leave and had to include with it my 30 days annual leave. I worked for a full year without leave because I’ve used up my holiday for the maternity period.”
Under the new labor law, pregnant women can now take a paid leave of 70 days as long as they give birth within this period of time. New mothers can also be granted an unpaid leave of four months and the law also prohibits employers from dismissing female workers during this period. An employer is also obliged to establish a day care center for children below four years of age if more than 50 women or 200 men work in the establishment.
Employees who meet with accidents on the job or on their way to and from work must receive full salaries throughout the recovering period slated by a physician. If this period exceeds six months, then the employer pays half the salary until the injured employee recovers, dies or his/her handicap is confirmed.
Regarding employee termination, the new law says that the employer must give a notice of three months and no worker can be terminated while on leave. The notice period for an employee to resign his or her job is also three months. The law also prohibits employers from firing workers without a reason, as a result of activities in NGOs or because they demanded their rights.
The law, which has updated provisions regarding salary, public holidays, paid leave, sick leave as well as end of service payments deemed suitable for employees and their employers, was approved by the National Assembly last year and was sent to the Kuwait Cabinet before being sent to His Highness the Amir for endorsement.
Expatriates in Kuwait expressed a positive outlook to the Arab Times saying that their rights should now finally be fully-considered by employers. “This is an excellent initiative by the government of Kuwait in order to protect the rights of the expatriate community in Kuwait, however, it still remains to be seen if the law will be fully implemented, which is equally important,” says Sidiq Valayakath who is President of the Federation of Indian Muslim Associations (FIMA).
Valayakath added that this initiative still does not include the rights of domestic workers who make a large portion of the working community in Kuwait. “It is our desire that domestic workers are not overlooked as well. The provisions that I believe will have the most impact are the provisions on annual leave and payment of salary,” he said.
The new labor law mandates that salaries of all employees be sent to banks before the 7th of each month. It also allows employees paid leave on all official holidays, a day off every week, and 30 days of annual leave even during the first year of work. Article 76 grants 21 days paid Hajj pilgrimage leave to an employee who has spent two consecutive years in service under the same employer and has never performed the Hajj pilgrimage previously.
Leave must also be granted to the employees on all the 13 days of public holidays and if workers are made to work on public holidays, they must be given a bonus of half-a-day’s salary in addition to a full day’s pay.
Furthermore, a worker is entitled to 40 days of paid sick leave, with full pay for the first 10 days, 75 percent pay for the next 10 days, 50 percent pay for the following 10 days and 25 percent pay for the last 10 days. An employee is entitled up to 30 days of unpaid sick leave if all his/her paid sick leaves are used up.
According to article 51 of the labor law, a worker will get complete end-of-service compensation at the end of the contract period. The employee is entitled to full indemnity if the contract is terminated by the employer, or the employment contract ends without being renewed. A female employee can get full indemnity if she terminates the contract from her side due to marriage within a year from her marriage date.
“This is very good news for us as expatriates in Kuwait as this new law has made us believe that Kuwait has become more concerned with our basic rights as workers like a lot of other developed countries around the world which is what we everyone in living in a foreign country should expect. I am especially relieved about the end of service indemnity provisions so now I can work hard knowing I will be taken care of,” said Rasha Goma, an Egyptian female working at the North Africa Holding Company in Kuwait.
Article 53 states that the employee is entitled to half month’s salary for every year if the employee resigns after more than three years and less than five years in the service. If the employee resigns after five years but less than ten years of service, he is entitled to 75 percent of the monthly salary for every year. Beyond 10 years, the employee gets a full month’s salary as compensation for every year of service.
Other provisions include rights of employed women including article 22, which prohibits the employment of women from 10 pm to 7 am except those who work in treatment homes or other institutions specified in a decision issued by the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor.
Amna Al-Jaray, Action Global Communications country manager said that what has always concerned her was the period of maternity leave available; “Previously I was allowed 40 days maternity leave and had to include with it my 30 days annual leave. I worked for a full year without leave because I’ve used up my holiday for the maternity period.”
Under the new labor law, pregnant women can now take a paid leave of 70 days as long as they give birth within this period of time. New mothers can also be granted an unpaid leave of four months and the law also prohibits employers from dismissing female workers during this period. An employer is also obliged to establish a day care center for children below four years of age if more than 50 women or 200 men work in the establishment.
Employees who meet with accidents on the job or on their way to and from work must receive full salaries throughout the recovering period slated by a physician. If this period exceeds six months, then the employer pays half the salary until the injured employee recovers, dies or his/her handicap is confirmed.
Regarding employee termination, the new law says that the employer must give a notice of three months and no worker can be terminated while on leave. The notice period for an employee to resign his or her job is also three months. The law also prohibits employers from firing workers without a reason, as a result of activities in NGOs or because they demanded their rights.
Jordan: Foreign housemaids suffer harassment and abuse
March 10th, 2010
Below is the translation from Arabic of an article that appeared in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur last month.
Amman – Al-Dustur Newspaper – Fares Al-Habashneh
13 February, 2010
Foreign housemaids in Jordan are slowly but surely beginning to raise their voices to concerned authorities to reveal what they undergo from violation of rights, harassment and physical and moral abuse.
Many housemaids are treated well by their employers, while others undergo inhumane treatments that cause them mental, physical and moral harm, which leads some of them to consider running away from these homes or turn to their embassies, and others to commit suicide by throwing themselves from the windows of the homes of their employers or attempt to drink toxic substances or hang themselves to end their suffering.
One of the Asian housemaids aged 22 years old, who arrived to Jordan in 2009, finally gathered her courage to file a complaint against her employers who she claimed to have beaten her. She states that she suffered hunger, and during the first two months on the job, her employer used to give her only a piece of bread daily and sometimes bits and pieces of leftovers. The brunette who headed to the embassy remembers her employer telling her “you are fat and you should not eat a lot.”
Housemaids who turn to their embassies remain there until their cases are solved with their sponsors or the offices that represent them, and then they are either sent back home or their situations are handled and they are sent back to their workplace.
Tamkeen (empowerment) Center for Legal Aid, which is a nongovernmental rights organization that defends migrant workers, declares receiving about 230 complaints last year filed by housemaids who were exposed to various types of violations and abuse. According to the head of the center, Linda Kilsh, 15 cases were directed to the judiciary, whereby 14 decisions concerning these cases were issued in favor of the housemaids, while other complaints were solved through a peaceful settlement with sponsors and the rest through a settlement with concerned parties.
Kilsh points out that the majority of maids who turned to the center were running away from the homes of their employers. She revealed that the complaints that were filed varied from exposure to beatings and forced labor and the confiscation of the maids’ passports.
The National Center for Human Rights receives complaints and solves them with concerned parties without turning to the courts. The said center states receiving about 500 complaints last year from runaways who had been exposed to beatings, physical abuse and the confiscation of their passports, and this is considered the highest percentage of complaints according to the center’s statistics. Kilsh believes that including housemaids under the umbrella of the Labor Law in accordance with the latest amendments to it builds protection for these maids and legally guarantees their salary, the necessity of paying this salary entirely in accordance with the contract signed between the sponsor and the maid, providing them with annual and monthly leaves, as well as other rights that protect these maids from undergoing any violations. She also points out that the issue of maids’ rights is gradually becoming more clear, but many of them do not have the courage to file complaints either because they are afraid or because they do not have legal documents. Furthermore, the majority of housemaids who file complaints to the center are runaways from the homes of their employers, because obstacles prevent them from filing complaints while they are living in the homes of their employers.
Those concerned with labor rights see that guarantees provided by the law are insufficient considering the absence of an instrument that monitors their application. Attorney Muhammad Al-Atrash states that the legal rights are clear, but the issue in question is how a maid can obtain her rights to approach concerned authorities and file a complaint when she is exposed to violation and abuse inside the home of her employer or by other concerned individuals. Al-Atrash believes that the adoption of an integrated work contract in conformity with national legislations might contribute to solving the cases of housemaids, limiting violations and abuses they are exposed to, and defining the responsibility of those who file complaints.
Experts state the necessity of issuing a legislation that guarantees the inspection of maids within the homes of their employers and conforming their working circumstances with national standards of work environments. These experts stress the necessity of this legislation due to the increase of suicide cases among housemaids, especially in cases where they throw themselves from high stories.
During the past few months, the Directorate of Public Security recorded about 18 suicide attempts among housemaids living in the homes of their employers and others in places where housemaids are gathered to be put on the market for work. According to Al-Atrash, the exploitation of housemaids, which sometimes leads to their abuse, leads a worrying number of them to commit suicide.
Filipinos urged to join Home Development Fund
Web posted at: 3/15/2010 6:5:12
Source ::: The Peninsula
Sharmaine Pamela Bautista, information officer of the POLO-OWWA in Qatar, explains before Filipino community leaders the benefits of the new Pag-IBIG fund law.
By CHRIS V PANGANIBAN
DOHA: Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Qatar are now obliged with a new law to register with the Philippine government’s Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or more popularly known as Pag-IBIG fund.
The new law enacted through Republic Act 9697 (RA 9697) and takes effect since January 1 this year makes it already mandatory for all OFWs around the world to be covered with Pag-IBIG fund.
Sharmaine Pamela Bautista, information officer of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA), told community leaders during a meeting at the Philippine Embassy over the weekend that the new law would make it beneficial for them for their savings on their retirement, emergency short term loan and housing loan.
“Pag-IBIG fund has been always associated with government housing programme and we want to clarify that with the new law, this also covers retirement benefits from their provident savings,” Bautista said. The implementing rules of RA 9697 provide that all OFWs, whether land-based or sea-based, and those employed by foreign-based employers, should register with the Pag-IBIG fund.
Bautista said monthly amortization for members of Pag-IBIG Overseas Programme (POP) is just a hundred pesos or roughly about QR10 and with their prescribed contribution OFWs are already covered by provident savings for retirement, the popular housing loan and the short-term emergency loan.
She said OFW voluntary members under the POP needs to register at the POLO-OWWA to update their records by filling up the Member’s Data Form downloadable at the Pag-IBIG fund website (www.pagibigfund.gov.ph) in case of the changes in their personal information.
Bautista clarified their office is not collecting fees for those filling up the Members Data Form even as they already required it especially vacationing OFWs securing Overseas Employment Certificates from the POLO-OWWA. “Contrary to feedbacks, we don’t collect fees for the form,” she said.
Below is the translation from Arabic of an article that appeared in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur last month.
Amman – Al-Dustur Newspaper – Fares Al-Habashneh
13 February, 2010
Foreign housemaids in Jordan are slowly but surely beginning to raise their voices to concerned authorities to reveal what they undergo from violation of rights, harassment and physical and moral abuse.
Many housemaids are treated well by their employers, while others undergo inhumane treatments that cause them mental, physical and moral harm, which leads some of them to consider running away from these homes or turn to their embassies, and others to commit suicide by throwing themselves from the windows of the homes of their employers or attempt to drink toxic substances or hang themselves to end their suffering.
One of the Asian housemaids aged 22 years old, who arrived to Jordan in 2009, finally gathered her courage to file a complaint against her employers who she claimed to have beaten her. She states that she suffered hunger, and during the first two months on the job, her employer used to give her only a piece of bread daily and sometimes bits and pieces of leftovers. The brunette who headed to the embassy remembers her employer telling her “you are fat and you should not eat a lot.”
Housemaids who turn to their embassies remain there until their cases are solved with their sponsors or the offices that represent them, and then they are either sent back home or their situations are handled and they are sent back to their workplace.
Tamkeen (empowerment) Center for Legal Aid, which is a nongovernmental rights organization that defends migrant workers, declares receiving about 230 complaints last year filed by housemaids who were exposed to various types of violations and abuse. According to the head of the center, Linda Kilsh, 15 cases were directed to the judiciary, whereby 14 decisions concerning these cases were issued in favor of the housemaids, while other complaints were solved through a peaceful settlement with sponsors and the rest through a settlement with concerned parties.
Kilsh points out that the majority of maids who turned to the center were running away from the homes of their employers. She revealed that the complaints that were filed varied from exposure to beatings and forced labor and the confiscation of the maids’ passports.
The National Center for Human Rights receives complaints and solves them with concerned parties without turning to the courts. The said center states receiving about 500 complaints last year from runaways who had been exposed to beatings, physical abuse and the confiscation of their passports, and this is considered the highest percentage of complaints according to the center’s statistics. Kilsh believes that including housemaids under the umbrella of the Labor Law in accordance with the latest amendments to it builds protection for these maids and legally guarantees their salary, the necessity of paying this salary entirely in accordance with the contract signed between the sponsor and the maid, providing them with annual and monthly leaves, as well as other rights that protect these maids from undergoing any violations. She also points out that the issue of maids’ rights is gradually becoming more clear, but many of them do not have the courage to file complaints either because they are afraid or because they do not have legal documents. Furthermore, the majority of housemaids who file complaints to the center are runaways from the homes of their employers, because obstacles prevent them from filing complaints while they are living in the homes of their employers.
Those concerned with labor rights see that guarantees provided by the law are insufficient considering the absence of an instrument that monitors their application. Attorney Muhammad Al-Atrash states that the legal rights are clear, but the issue in question is how a maid can obtain her rights to approach concerned authorities and file a complaint when she is exposed to violation and abuse inside the home of her employer or by other concerned individuals. Al-Atrash believes that the adoption of an integrated work contract in conformity with national legislations might contribute to solving the cases of housemaids, limiting violations and abuses they are exposed to, and defining the responsibility of those who file complaints.
Experts state the necessity of issuing a legislation that guarantees the inspection of maids within the homes of their employers and conforming their working circumstances with national standards of work environments. These experts stress the necessity of this legislation due to the increase of suicide cases among housemaids, especially in cases where they throw themselves from high stories.
During the past few months, the Directorate of Public Security recorded about 18 suicide attempts among housemaids living in the homes of their employers and others in places where housemaids are gathered to be put on the market for work. According to Al-Atrash, the exploitation of housemaids, which sometimes leads to their abuse, leads a worrying number of them to commit suicide.
Filipinos urged to join Home Development Fund
Web posted at: 3/15/2010 6:5:12
Source ::: The Peninsula
Sharmaine Pamela Bautista, information officer of the POLO-OWWA in Qatar, explains before Filipino community leaders the benefits of the new Pag-IBIG fund law.
By CHRIS V PANGANIBAN
DOHA: Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Qatar are now obliged with a new law to register with the Philippine government’s Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or more popularly known as Pag-IBIG fund.
The new law enacted through Republic Act 9697 (RA 9697) and takes effect since January 1 this year makes it already mandatory for all OFWs around the world to be covered with Pag-IBIG fund.
Sharmaine Pamela Bautista, information officer of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA), told community leaders during a meeting at the Philippine Embassy over the weekend that the new law would make it beneficial for them for their savings on their retirement, emergency short term loan and housing loan.
“Pag-IBIG fund has been always associated with government housing programme and we want to clarify that with the new law, this also covers retirement benefits from their provident savings,” Bautista said. The implementing rules of RA 9697 provide that all OFWs, whether land-based or sea-based, and those employed by foreign-based employers, should register with the Pag-IBIG fund.
Bautista said monthly amortization for members of Pag-IBIG Overseas Programme (POP) is just a hundred pesos or roughly about QR10 and with their prescribed contribution OFWs are already covered by provident savings for retirement, the popular housing loan and the short-term emergency loan.
She said OFW voluntary members under the POP needs to register at the POLO-OWWA to update their records by filling up the Member’s Data Form downloadable at the Pag-IBIG fund website (www.pagibigfund.gov.ph) in case of the changes in their personal information.
Bautista clarified their office is not collecting fees for those filling up the Members Data Form even as they already required it especially vacationing OFWs securing Overseas Employment Certificates from the POLO-OWWA. “Contrary to feedbacks, we don’t collect fees for the form,” she said.
800 firms banned from hiring workers
Wafa Issa
• Last Updated: March 14. 2010 11:46PM UAE / March 14. 2010 7:46PM GMT
DUBAI // Eight hundred of the UAE’s biggest companies have been banned from hiring new workers because they did not join the federal Government’s new Wage Protection System (WPS) by the November 30 deadline.
The Ministry of Labour, in co-operation with the Central Bank, stipulated that all 269,100 companies in all seven emirates should pay their workers through banks by the end of May.
That enables the ministry to automatically check if a company is defaulting on salaries or making illegal deductions from salaries.
Under the first phase of the scheme, the country’s 4,100 or so companies with at least 100 employees – which employ a total of 2.1 million workers – had to comply by the end of November.
The Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, said yesterday that some 3,000 large firms had signed up for the scheme, and that 1,100 had not. About 300 of those have been granted a grace period because they claimed to have “technical issues” that prevented them from joining on time.
The grace period was granted only after the ministry ensured their workers were being paid regularly. The length of the grace period has not been disclosed.
The ministry has stopped issuing the remaining 800 big firms with new work permits.
Mr Ghobash said he was satisfied with the uptake, despite the sanctions levied against the offending companies.
“The figures reflects the increasing awareness on the WPS, among employers, which have proved its effectiveness as a tool guaranteeing that workers are being paid their salaries on time.”
Employees at some of the 800 companies who have yet to join the system say they have not received their salaries for some time.
Padakanti Janardhanan, 27, an Indian construction worker, said he had not been paid for three months.
A worker for a Sharjah construction company with 900 employees, Mr Janardhanan claimed the company had promised to credit his salary to the bank for months but had not done so yet.
“They used to give us our wages in cash before. However, now they say they would pay to the bank but I have got nothing yet,” he said.
He welcomed the WPS – but said it had yet to make a difference to him and some of his colleagues who have also not been paid.
“The system is good but only if these companies are following it.”
With just a few dirhams left in his pocket, Mr Janardhanan is hoping to go back home: “I just want my passport back and want to go home. I have given up hope that I will be paid anything.”
Mohammed Usman, 32, a construction worker in Dubai, said: “We were told that, from this year, our salaries will go into the bank account. But work has stopped and we do not get full salaries now.”
He claimed his Sharjah-based employer has been paying workers intermittently – roughly every two or three months. “When they get money, they pay us. Many of the workers are sitting in the camp with no work,” said the Bangladeshi.
The deadline for the second phase of the scheme, which covers 35,000 companies that have between 15 and 99 employees, passed in late February, meaning that 80 per cent of the workforce should be covered by now.
The deadline for the third and final phase, covering 900,000 workers in 230,000 small companies, is May 31.
Nevertheless, officials said a total of only 6,000 medium and small-sized firms have enrolled in the plan so far, meaning that overall only about a third have signed up.
The ministry will start penalising medium-sized companies that have not complied at the end of March.
wissa@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Praveen Menon
• Last Updated: March 14. 2010 11:46PM UAE / March 14. 2010 7:46PM GMT
DUBAI // Eight hundred of the UAE’s biggest companies have been banned from hiring new workers because they did not join the federal Government’s new Wage Protection System (WPS) by the November 30 deadline.
The Ministry of Labour, in co-operation with the Central Bank, stipulated that all 269,100 companies in all seven emirates should pay their workers through banks by the end of May.
That enables the ministry to automatically check if a company is defaulting on salaries or making illegal deductions from salaries.
Under the first phase of the scheme, the country’s 4,100 or so companies with at least 100 employees – which employ a total of 2.1 million workers – had to comply by the end of November.
The Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, said yesterday that some 3,000 large firms had signed up for the scheme, and that 1,100 had not. About 300 of those have been granted a grace period because they claimed to have “technical issues” that prevented them from joining on time.
The grace period was granted only after the ministry ensured their workers were being paid regularly. The length of the grace period has not been disclosed.
The ministry has stopped issuing the remaining 800 big firms with new work permits.
Mr Ghobash said he was satisfied with the uptake, despite the sanctions levied against the offending companies.
“The figures reflects the increasing awareness on the WPS, among employers, which have proved its effectiveness as a tool guaranteeing that workers are being paid their salaries on time.”
Employees at some of the 800 companies who have yet to join the system say they have not received their salaries for some time.
Padakanti Janardhanan, 27, an Indian construction worker, said he had not been paid for three months.
A worker for a Sharjah construction company with 900 employees, Mr Janardhanan claimed the company had promised to credit his salary to the bank for months but had not done so yet.
“They used to give us our wages in cash before. However, now they say they would pay to the bank but I have got nothing yet,” he said.
He welcomed the WPS – but said it had yet to make a difference to him and some of his colleagues who have also not been paid.
“The system is good but only if these companies are following it.”
With just a few dirhams left in his pocket, Mr Janardhanan is hoping to go back home: “I just want my passport back and want to go home. I have given up hope that I will be paid anything.”
Mohammed Usman, 32, a construction worker in Dubai, said: “We were told that, from this year, our salaries will go into the bank account. But work has stopped and we do not get full salaries now.”
He claimed his Sharjah-based employer has been paying workers intermittently – roughly every two or three months. “When they get money, they pay us. Many of the workers are sitting in the camp with no work,” said the Bangladeshi.
The deadline for the second phase of the scheme, which covers 35,000 companies that have between 15 and 99 employees, passed in late February, meaning that 80 per cent of the workforce should be covered by now.
The deadline for the third and final phase, covering 900,000 workers in 230,000 small companies, is May 31.
Nevertheless, officials said a total of only 6,000 medium and small-sized firms have enrolled in the plan so far, meaning that overall only about a third have signed up.
The ministry will start penalising medium-sized companies that have not complied at the end of March.
wissa@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Praveen Menon
Fewer foreign workers
FEWER foreign workers were hired last year, while more jobs went to Singapore residents.
The Labour Report 2009 released by the Ministry of Manpower on Monday showed that the number of foreign workers employed fell by 0.4 per cent, or 4,200 last year.
Comparatively, more locals were hired last December from a year ago, going up by 41,800 or 2.2 per cent.
The decline in foreign employment stemmed mainly from fewer hires in the manufacturing sector, which saw a drop of 34,300 foreign workers.
Increases in hiring in the construction (19,700) and services (10,400) industries were not enough to offset the overall decline in foreign employment.
Overall there were 1,053,500 foreigners forming 35.2 per cent of total employment last December, which was 0.6 percentage points below the peak of 35.8 per cent in December 2008.
Excluding foreign domestic workers, the foreigners' share of employment was 30.7 per cent in December 2009, down from 31.4 per cent a year ago.
Read also:
Jobless rate falls to 2.1%
Wages down by 1.6% in 2009
The Labour Report 2009 released by the Ministry of Manpower on Monday showed that the number of foreign workers employed fell by 0.4 per cent, or 4,200 last year.
Comparatively, more locals were hired last December from a year ago, going up by 41,800 or 2.2 per cent.
The decline in foreign employment stemmed mainly from fewer hires in the manufacturing sector, which saw a drop of 34,300 foreign workers.
Increases in hiring in the construction (19,700) and services (10,400) industries were not enough to offset the overall decline in foreign employment.
Overall there were 1,053,500 foreigners forming 35.2 per cent of total employment last December, which was 0.6 percentage points below the peak of 35.8 per cent in December 2008.
Excluding foreign domestic workers, the foreigners' share of employment was 30.7 per cent in December 2009, down from 31.4 per cent a year ago.
Read also:
Jobless rate falls to 2.1%
Wages down by 1.6% in 2009
Sunday, March 14, 2010
IOM to monitor Lankan workers in Libya
Sunday Times -
Pilot project to improve migrant worker conditions
The International Organisation of Migration (IOM), a UN agency, will be monitoring the progress of the first batch of around 500 Sri Lankan workers who leave for Libya next month in a pilot project aimed at improving the status of workers overseas, officials said.
Female workers to Sony, JVC, IBM
Sri Lankan female workers are currently being recruited for production facilities in Malaysia of electronics giants Sony, JVC and IBM, said Sunil Sirisena, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare.
“We have negotiated with the companies who are providing 1,500 jobs (500 each) with the applicants needing a general knowledge of English which is a requirement,” he said.
In a first-time initiative, where an external agency will stand as a guarantor of the contract signed between workers and the employer, IOM’s office in Tripoli will personally follow the progress of these workers throughout their 1-year contracted work period, which is renewable, and step in if there are any issues between the workers and the management. The employer, a Brazilian company, was selected by IOM and the Sri Lankans – all males- will be part of a workforce building a second international airport in Tripoli .
“Our intention is to support government efforts to provide skilled manpower and empower workers before they leave,” said Shantha Kulasekara, Head of Migration Management, IOM Sri Lanka. He told the Business Times that in a very transparent process of recruitment, the Brazilian employer was in Colombo last week involved in the selections. “He personally tested the skills of each worker. For example a bulldozer driver was given a field test at a site in the presence of the Brazilian employer,” he said. The project is an initiative between the Sri Lankan and Libyan governments under an agreement reached between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the Sri Lankan President’s visit to Libya last year.
Thousands of Sri Lankans find jobs mostly in the Middle East and Asia but often encounter problems like non-payment of wages, problems in the contract and working longer hours that contracted while domestic workers face many other problems like sexual abuse and harassment. The Libya initiative which brings in IOM as a tripartite partner is meant to pave the way – if the project succeeds – to similar, supervised job arrangements in other countries.
Sunil Sirisena, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, said the programme, if successful, would be expanded to Israel , Cyprus , Italy and France . At the request of IOM, the Brazilian company has agreed to hire a Sri Lankan cook and a Sri Lankan coordinator to liaise between the workers and employer. IOM’s Kulasekera says food is often a bone of contention overseas because Sri Lankans may take awhile to get used to the food overseas.
“By having their own cook, they get Sri Lankan food. The Sri Lankan coordinator can help to iron out issues between the management and the workers,” he said. Labourers will get upto Rs 58,000 per month with food and accommodation provided free while the more skilled categories like heavy vehicle drivers can get up to Rs 100,000 per month.
“This way the woman in the house need not go abroad as the husband can earn enough to support the family,” he said. The company is also paying $1000 per worker for processing and other charges ensuring the worker need not pay any money, like in the case of unlicensed agencies who demand money for a job.
“This is a very transparent system and we are hoping it succeeds. If it does, there will be more jobs in Libya for Sri Lankans,” he said.
Pilot project to improve migrant worker conditions
The International Organisation of Migration (IOM), a UN agency, will be monitoring the progress of the first batch of around 500 Sri Lankan workers who leave for Libya next month in a pilot project aimed at improving the status of workers overseas, officials said.
Female workers to Sony, JVC, IBM
Sri Lankan female workers are currently being recruited for production facilities in Malaysia of electronics giants Sony, JVC and IBM, said Sunil Sirisena, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare.
“We have negotiated with the companies who are providing 1,500 jobs (500 each) with the applicants needing a general knowledge of English which is a requirement,” he said.
In a first-time initiative, where an external agency will stand as a guarantor of the contract signed between workers and the employer, IOM’s office in Tripoli will personally follow the progress of these workers throughout their 1-year contracted work period, which is renewable, and step in if there are any issues between the workers and the management. The employer, a Brazilian company, was selected by IOM and the Sri Lankans – all males- will be part of a workforce building a second international airport in Tripoli .
“Our intention is to support government efforts to provide skilled manpower and empower workers before they leave,” said Shantha Kulasekara, Head of Migration Management, IOM Sri Lanka. He told the Business Times that in a very transparent process of recruitment, the Brazilian employer was in Colombo last week involved in the selections. “He personally tested the skills of each worker. For example a bulldozer driver was given a field test at a site in the presence of the Brazilian employer,” he said. The project is an initiative between the Sri Lankan and Libyan governments under an agreement reached between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during the Sri Lankan President’s visit to Libya last year.
Thousands of Sri Lankans find jobs mostly in the Middle East and Asia but often encounter problems like non-payment of wages, problems in the contract and working longer hours that contracted while domestic workers face many other problems like sexual abuse and harassment. The Libya initiative which brings in IOM as a tripartite partner is meant to pave the way – if the project succeeds – to similar, supervised job arrangements in other countries.
Sunil Sirisena, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, said the programme, if successful, would be expanded to Israel , Cyprus , Italy and France . At the request of IOM, the Brazilian company has agreed to hire a Sri Lankan cook and a Sri Lankan coordinator to liaise between the workers and employer. IOM’s Kulasekera says food is often a bone of contention overseas because Sri Lankans may take awhile to get used to the food overseas.
“By having their own cook, they get Sri Lankan food. The Sri Lankan coordinator can help to iron out issues between the management and the workers,” he said. Labourers will get upto Rs 58,000 per month with food and accommodation provided free while the more skilled categories like heavy vehicle drivers can get up to Rs 100,000 per month.
“This way the woman in the house need not go abroad as the husband can earn enough to support the family,” he said. The company is also paying $1000 per worker for processing and other charges ensuring the worker need not pay any money, like in the case of unlicensed agencies who demand money for a job.
“This is a very transparent system and we are hoping it succeeds. If it does, there will be more jobs in Libya for Sri Lankans,” he said.
Jordan: Foreign housemaids suffer harassment and abuse
Below is the translation from Arabic of an article that appeared in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur last month.
Foreign housemaids suffer harassment and abuse
Amman – Al-Dustur Newspaper – Fares Al-Habashneh
13 February, 2010
Foreign housemaids in Jordan are slowly but surely beginning to raise their voices to concerned authorities to reveal what they undergo from violation of rights, harassment and physical and moral abuse.
Many housemaids are treated well by their employers, while others undergo inhumane treatments that cause them mental, physical and moral harm, which leads some of them to consider running away from these homes or turn to their embassies, and others to commit suicide by throwing themselves from the windows of the homes of their employers or attempt to drink toxic substances or hang themselves to end their suffering.
One of the Asian housemaids aged 22 years old, who arrived to Jordan in 2009, finally gathered her courage to file a complaint against her employers who she claimed to have beaten her. She states that she suffered hunger, and during the first two months on the job, her employer used to give her only a piece of bread daily and sometimes bits and pieces of leftovers. The brunette who headed to the embassy remembers her employer telling her “you are fat and you should not eat a lot.”
Housemaids who turn to their embassies remain there until their cases are solved with their sponsors or the offices that represent them, and then they are either sent back home or their situations are handled and they are sent back to their workplace.
Tamkeen (empowerment) Center for Legal Aid, which is a nongovernmental rights organization that defends migrant workers, declares receiving about 230 complaints last year filed by housemaids who were exposed to various types of violations and abuse. According to the head of the center, Linda Kilsh, 15 cases were directed to the judiciary, whereby 14 decisions concerning these cases were issued in favor of the housemaids, while other complaints were solved through a peaceful settlement with sponsors and the rest through a settlement with concerned parties.
Kilsh points out that the majority of maids who turned to the center were running away from the homes of their employers. She revealed that the complaints that were filed varied from exposure to beatings and forced labor and the confiscation of the maids’ passports.
The National Center for Human Rights receives complaints and solves them with concerned parties without turning to the courts. The said center states receiving about 500 complaints last year from runaways who had been exposed to beatings, physical abuse and the confiscation of their passports, and this is considered the highest percentage of complaints according to the center’s statistics. Kilsh believes that including housemaids under the umbrella of the Labor Law in accordance with the latest amendments to it builds protection for these maids and legally guarantees their salary, the necessity of paying this salary entirely in accordance with the contract signed between the sponsor and the maid, providing them with annual and monthly leaves, as well as other rights that protect these maids from undergoing any violations. She also points out that the issue of maids’ rights is gradually becoming more clear, but many of them do not have the courage to file complaints either because they are afraid or because they do not have legal documents. Furthermore, the majority of housemaids who file complaints to the center are runaways from the homes of their employers, because obstacles prevent them from filing complaints while they are living in the homes of their employers.
Those concerned with labor rights see that guarantees provided by the law are insufficient considering the absence of an instrument that monitors their application. Attorney Muhammad Al-Atrash states that the legal rights are clear, but the issue in question is how a maid can obtain her rights to approach concerned authorities and file a complaint when she is exposed to violation and abuse inside the home of her employer or by other concerned individuals. Al-Atrash believes that the adoption of an integrated work contract in conformity with national legislations might contribute to solving the cases of housemaids, limiting violations and abuses they are exposed to, and defining the responsibility of those who file complaints.
Experts state the necessity of issuing a legislation that guarantees the inspection of maids within the homes of their employers and conforming their working circumstances with national standards of work environments. These experts stress the necessity of this legislation due to the increase of suicide cases among housemaids, especially in cases where they throw themselves from high stories.
During the past few months, the Directorate of Public Security recorded about 18 suicide attempts among housemaids living in the homes of their employers and others in places where housemaids are gathered to be put on the market for work. According to Al-Atrash, the exploitation of housemaids, which sometimes leads to their abuse, leads a worrying number of them to commit suicide.
Foreign housemaids suffer harassment and abuse
Amman – Al-Dustur Newspaper – Fares Al-Habashneh
13 February, 2010
Foreign housemaids in Jordan are slowly but surely beginning to raise their voices to concerned authorities to reveal what they undergo from violation of rights, harassment and physical and moral abuse.
Many housemaids are treated well by their employers, while others undergo inhumane treatments that cause them mental, physical and moral harm, which leads some of them to consider running away from these homes or turn to their embassies, and others to commit suicide by throwing themselves from the windows of the homes of their employers or attempt to drink toxic substances or hang themselves to end their suffering.
One of the Asian housemaids aged 22 years old, who arrived to Jordan in 2009, finally gathered her courage to file a complaint against her employers who she claimed to have beaten her. She states that she suffered hunger, and during the first two months on the job, her employer used to give her only a piece of bread daily and sometimes bits and pieces of leftovers. The brunette who headed to the embassy remembers her employer telling her “you are fat and you should not eat a lot.”
Housemaids who turn to their embassies remain there until their cases are solved with their sponsors or the offices that represent them, and then they are either sent back home or their situations are handled and they are sent back to their workplace.
Tamkeen (empowerment) Center for Legal Aid, which is a nongovernmental rights organization that defends migrant workers, declares receiving about 230 complaints last year filed by housemaids who were exposed to various types of violations and abuse. According to the head of the center, Linda Kilsh, 15 cases were directed to the judiciary, whereby 14 decisions concerning these cases were issued in favor of the housemaids, while other complaints were solved through a peaceful settlement with sponsors and the rest through a settlement with concerned parties.
Kilsh points out that the majority of maids who turned to the center were running away from the homes of their employers. She revealed that the complaints that were filed varied from exposure to beatings and forced labor and the confiscation of the maids’ passports.
The National Center for Human Rights receives complaints and solves them with concerned parties without turning to the courts. The said center states receiving about 500 complaints last year from runaways who had been exposed to beatings, physical abuse and the confiscation of their passports, and this is considered the highest percentage of complaints according to the center’s statistics. Kilsh believes that including housemaids under the umbrella of the Labor Law in accordance with the latest amendments to it builds protection for these maids and legally guarantees their salary, the necessity of paying this salary entirely in accordance with the contract signed between the sponsor and the maid, providing them with annual and monthly leaves, as well as other rights that protect these maids from undergoing any violations. She also points out that the issue of maids’ rights is gradually becoming more clear, but many of them do not have the courage to file complaints either because they are afraid or because they do not have legal documents. Furthermore, the majority of housemaids who file complaints to the center are runaways from the homes of their employers, because obstacles prevent them from filing complaints while they are living in the homes of their employers.
Those concerned with labor rights see that guarantees provided by the law are insufficient considering the absence of an instrument that monitors their application. Attorney Muhammad Al-Atrash states that the legal rights are clear, but the issue in question is how a maid can obtain her rights to approach concerned authorities and file a complaint when she is exposed to violation and abuse inside the home of her employer or by other concerned individuals. Al-Atrash believes that the adoption of an integrated work contract in conformity with national legislations might contribute to solving the cases of housemaids, limiting violations and abuses they are exposed to, and defining the responsibility of those who file complaints.
Experts state the necessity of issuing a legislation that guarantees the inspection of maids within the homes of their employers and conforming their working circumstances with national standards of work environments. These experts stress the necessity of this legislation due to the increase of suicide cases among housemaids, especially in cases where they throw themselves from high stories.
During the past few months, the Directorate of Public Security recorded about 18 suicide attempts among housemaids living in the homes of their employers and others in places where housemaids are gathered to be put on the market for work. According to Al-Atrash, the exploitation of housemaids, which sometimes leads to their abuse, leads a worrying number of them to commit suicide.
Saudi’s “Arab Times” Portrays Maids as Abusive Sneaky Witches
The Saudi English daily Arab News published a report today about the apparent growing trend of maids who attack their employers as a response to mistreatment. The report, titled “Maids turn up the heat on sponsors” portrays the maids as the abusers, while barely mentioning the abuse maids suffer all across Saudi Arabia.
Following this line, “Maids’ sneaky ways to get back at their sponsors vary from black magic to child abuse”, the report provides interviews with a number of Saudi woman who’ve suffered at the hands of their maids. We of course don’t dismiss the reports about children who have been abused by maids, or murders and theft perpetrated by maids. However, reports such as this one, which portray the sponsors as victims and maids as aggressors, are disregarding the weakness of migrant workers in Saudi society and the little to no rights and state protection they are offered.
The report concludes with this ridiculous paragraph:
A Saudi woman said her husband left her and married the maid because she put a spell on him.
“I accidentally noticed a piece of thin fabric which held some hair and some unknown words written on it under my husband’s pillow. I searched more and I found a voodoo doll between his clothes. I later discovered that my maid was making a love talisman for my husband to make him leave me and marry her,” said Umm Omar, a housewife.
These kind of reports help justify racist attitudes toward migrant workers and their abuse. Aggressors who feel like they are the real victims will persist with their abuse with no scruples. Saudi media should be reporting less about witch maids, and more about the systematic discrimination against migrants under the sponsorship system in the kingdom.
Following this line, “Maids’ sneaky ways to get back at their sponsors vary from black magic to child abuse”, the report provides interviews with a number of Saudi woman who’ve suffered at the hands of their maids. We of course don’t dismiss the reports about children who have been abused by maids, or murders and theft perpetrated by maids. However, reports such as this one, which portray the sponsors as victims and maids as aggressors, are disregarding the weakness of migrant workers in Saudi society and the little to no rights and state protection they are offered.
The report concludes with this ridiculous paragraph:
A Saudi woman said her husband left her and married the maid because she put a spell on him.
“I accidentally noticed a piece of thin fabric which held some hair and some unknown words written on it under my husband’s pillow. I searched more and I found a voodoo doll between his clothes. I later discovered that my maid was making a love talisman for my husband to make him leave me and marry her,” said Umm Omar, a housewife.
These kind of reports help justify racist attitudes toward migrant workers and their abuse. Aggressors who feel like they are the real victims will persist with their abuse with no scruples. Saudi media should be reporting less about witch maids, and more about the systematic discrimination against migrants under the sponsorship system in the kingdom.
Three confess to kidnap and rape
By Abdul Karim Al-Murabba’
MAKKAH – The General Court in Adham in Makkah has heard the statements of three men accused of kidnapping and raping a housemaid of Asian nationality before abandoning her naked in a remote region late at night.
The three kidnapped the woman, who was employed at a house in the Al-Jayeza District in Al-Laith, at an undisclosed time and took her to an unpopulated region 25 km away.
After being abandoned the victim walked 25 km alone through the night across desert land until she came across a house in the region of Al-Umraniya and alerted the occupants who called the police. The three accused were detained shortly after and subsequently confessed to investigators. – Okaz/SG
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MAKKAH – The General Court in Adham in Makkah has heard the statements of three men accused of kidnapping and raping a housemaid of Asian nationality before abandoning her naked in a remote region late at night.
The three kidnapped the woman, who was employed at a house in the Al-Jayeza District in Al-Laith, at an undisclosed time and took her to an unpopulated region 25 km away.
After being abandoned the victim walked 25 km alone through the night across desert land until she came across a house in the region of Al-Umraniya and alerted the occupants who called the police. The three accused were detained shortly after and subsequently confessed to investigators. – Okaz/SG
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Public warned of phony census calls
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Indian worker’s 15-hour ordeal in the desert
Erring garages to be fined SR500
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Compensation ‘insufficient’
33.8% of Saudis do not exercise, ‘alarming’ rise in diabetes cases
Bangladesh consular team to visit Buraidah
RIYADH – A Bangladeshi consular team will be visiting Buraidah on March 18 and 19 to extend consular, welfare and remittance promotional services to the Bangladesh community in Buraidah and adjoining areas.
The team will establish its office at Hotel Al-Salman.
Further information can be had on Tel. No. 01-4195300/20, a press release issued here said. – SG OTHER NEWS FROM Nation
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The team will establish its office at Hotel Al-Salman.
Further information can be had on Tel. No. 01-4195300/20, a press release issued here said. – SG OTHER NEWS FROM Nation
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Indian worker’s 15-hour ordeal in the desert
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Compensation ‘insufficient’
33.8% of Saudis do not exercise, ‘alarming’ rise in diabetes cases
Indian worker’s 15-hour ordeal in the desert
By Shahid Ali Khan
RIYADH – Sharfudeen Necheeri (26), an Indian menial job worker, survived in a desert for 15 hours on a cup of milk and a glass of water.
Two crooks posing as plainclothes policemen picked up Necheeri on Thursday and drove for four hours and dumped him in a desert outside of the capital. The thugs robbed him of his SR360 but spared his mobile phone, “because it was made in China.”
Speaking about his ordeal, Necheeri said the duo approached him while he was walking alone at 10.30 P.M. on a street in Batha. They asked for his iqama (residence permit) and instructed him to sit in the car.
“I obeyed because they posed as plainclothes policemen,” he said.
The two men took Necheeri in an apartment building and locked him in a room for four hours before taking him to a remote area, about four hours drive from Riyadh and dumped him in the desert at 3.30 A.M.
It was a real ordeal for Necheeri, a janitor at a grocery store in Batha, to have spent his late hours of Thursday night in the desert. He was left with SR2 and a mobile phone, which had a low battery. It was pitch dark and he had nowhere to go for help.
Groping in the dark a panicky Necheeri decided to move on toward the city. Early Friday he found a group of camels in the desert and a Sudanese shepherd.
“I was exhausted from the long walk and I was hungry. I asked the Sudanese for food. As there was no food available the Sudanese guy offered me a cup of cow’s milk and a bottle of water. I paid him SR2, the only money left with me,” Necheeri said.
Necheeri’s friend lodged a complaint with Riyadh-chapter of Kerala Muslim Culture Center (KMCC), which in turn approached the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR).
Shaji Allapuzha, a KMCC member, said Salah Al-Kathla’an, Vice Chairman of NSHR, was very cooperative in the matter and asked the Riyadh Police to launch a search operation for missing Necheeri.
The police were prompt in launching a search operation by deploying a helicopter and a patrol in the desert area.
“The patrol asked me to accompany them in their search operation, basically to identify the missing person (Necheeri). Within a short time Riyadh Police managed to track Necheeri’s mobile phone through GPS system,” Allapuzzha said.
Although Necheeri’s mobile phone battery was at its low, the police were able to track him as he was moving toward the city, he said.
Finally a contact was established with Necheeri and once in police hand, he was taken to the primary health care center for medical checkup.
“Although a little panicky, Necheeri is doing fine now,” Allapuzha said. – SG
RIYADH – Sharfudeen Necheeri (26), an Indian menial job worker, survived in a desert for 15 hours on a cup of milk and a glass of water.
Two crooks posing as plainclothes policemen picked up Necheeri on Thursday and drove for four hours and dumped him in a desert outside of the capital. The thugs robbed him of his SR360 but spared his mobile phone, “because it was made in China.”
Speaking about his ordeal, Necheeri said the duo approached him while he was walking alone at 10.30 P.M. on a street in Batha. They asked for his iqama (residence permit) and instructed him to sit in the car.
“I obeyed because they posed as plainclothes policemen,” he said.
The two men took Necheeri in an apartment building and locked him in a room for four hours before taking him to a remote area, about four hours drive from Riyadh and dumped him in the desert at 3.30 A.M.
It was a real ordeal for Necheeri, a janitor at a grocery store in Batha, to have spent his late hours of Thursday night in the desert. He was left with SR2 and a mobile phone, which had a low battery. It was pitch dark and he had nowhere to go for help.
Groping in the dark a panicky Necheeri decided to move on toward the city. Early Friday he found a group of camels in the desert and a Sudanese shepherd.
“I was exhausted from the long walk and I was hungry. I asked the Sudanese for food. As there was no food available the Sudanese guy offered me a cup of cow’s milk and a bottle of water. I paid him SR2, the only money left with me,” Necheeri said.
Necheeri’s friend lodged a complaint with Riyadh-chapter of Kerala Muslim Culture Center (KMCC), which in turn approached the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR).
Shaji Allapuzha, a KMCC member, said Salah Al-Kathla’an, Vice Chairman of NSHR, was very cooperative in the matter and asked the Riyadh Police to launch a search operation for missing Necheeri.
The police were prompt in launching a search operation by deploying a helicopter and a patrol in the desert area.
“The patrol asked me to accompany them in their search operation, basically to identify the missing person (Necheeri). Within a short time Riyadh Police managed to track Necheeri’s mobile phone through GPS system,” Allapuzzha said.
Although Necheeri’s mobile phone battery was at its low, the police were able to track him as he was moving toward the city, he said.
Finally a contact was established with Necheeri and once in police hand, he was taken to the primary health care center for medical checkup.
“Although a little panicky, Necheeri is doing fine now,” Allapuzha said. – SG
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