Professionals First In Kafeel Switch

Rights Group Welcomes Kuwait Plan

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: The proposed Public Authority for Expatriates will not be responsible for all the foreign workers in the country, a ministerial source told the Arab Times.

The Authority will only be responsible for certain classes of expatriates, expected to be around 30 percent of the country’s foreign population, in the initial stages of the proposed plan to set up a separate authority for expatriates.

This came after Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi announced earlier this week that Kuwait would end the current sponsorship (kafeel) system in the country on Feb 26, 2011, as “a Liberation Day gift to expatriates.”

Clarifying another point, the source said while the Authority would be the one responsible for sponsoring the residence of the expatriates it would not act like a ‘sponsor’ and that a certain group of expatriates would be similar to a ‘self-sponsorship’ in which an expatriate would have greater freedom to ‘move around’. All the transactions would have to be completed by the expatriate himself after his residence had been approved.

The source, however, clarified that the rules to be enforced by the Authority had not been finalized adding that the government will set a number of conditions and will identify groups, who will come under this scheme, to allow them to ‘sponsor’ themselves and process their transactions without a local sponsor.
The source added that Arab expatriates, who spent 20 years or more in Kuwait without being involved in any criminal case will be given priority, as well as expatriates with high academic and technical qualifications. “Employees in teaching, commercial, technical, engineering and petroleum sectors will be under this scheme and be able to ‘sponsor’ themselves as they hold stable jobs and not likely to change jobs very often,” the source noted.

The ministries of Interior, Social Affairs and Labor are said to be coordinating with each other to frame the bylaws and regulations to allow expatriates to ‘sponsor’ themselves, as well as their children. The source indicated that the ministries will consider the qualifications, designation and social position of some nationalities.

The government, which has been severely criticized by human rights organizations, will also approve a special law for domestic workers in order to protect their rights. The source disclosed the parliamentary Human Rights Committee is urging the government to expedite the process and issue the law at the earliest. The source added these recommendations will be forwarded to the National Assembly for approval.

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti plan to abolish its employer sponsor system is a significant step to address a major source of labour abuse, but it must also cover domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

“This announcement is an important declaration that the Kuwaiti government is taking seriously the need to protect migrant workers,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of the New York-based rights group said in an emailed statement.

“But the government needs to say publicly what it plans to do and it needs to include domestic workers in its plans,” Whitson said.

Some 2.35 million foreigners live in Kuwait, about 1.7 million of whom are workers, including 650,000 domestic workers who are not covered by Kuwaiti labour law. Native Kuwaitis number just 1.1 million.
The minister said the system will be abolished once a public authority for the recruitment of foreign workers is established in February.

Kuwait’s current sponsorship system ties a migrant worker’s immigration status to an individual employer, or sponsor, without whose consent the worker cannot transfer employment.

“Absconding from the workplace is a criminal offence, even if a worker has left because of abuse,” HRW said.

This system gives employers unchecked leverage and control over workers, who remain completely dependent upon the sponsoring employer for their livelihood, it added.

Employees can suffer physical and sexual abuse, and employers often withhold salaries, require long working hours with no time off, refuse to allow a worker to go home after an employment contract expires, and block avenues to redress grievances, it added.

“Any new system should allow workers to change or terminate employment at will, and should decriminalise ‘absconding,’ or leaving employment without an employer’s permission,” Whitson said. - By: Ben Arfaj Al-Mutairi, http://www.arabtimesonline.com