ShareBy B Izzak
KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday approved an amendment to a law governing domestic workers, changing the word "servant" to "domestic worker" in all Kuwaiti laws to ensure they are in sync with international laws, especially those related to human rights. According to an explanatory note, the amendment was attributed to avoid reservations by international human rights organizations and agencies concerned with labor affairs regarding the use of the term "maidservant" in laws regulating the domestic labor sector or in other laws. The amendment also replaced the term "private maid" with "private domestic worker", wherever it is mentioned in any law. The second and final round of voting on the amendment will take place after two weeks.
Meanwhile, the court of appeals yesterday overturned a decision allowing expats aged over 60 without university degrees to renew or transfer their work permits within the private sector for one year by paying a fee of KD 250 and KD 500 in comprehensive private health insurance.
The Assembly yesterday also rejected the resignation of MP Yousef Al-Fadhalah, which he submitted around 11 months ago. Only 19 MPs voted to accept the resignation, while the government abstained. Opposition MPs criticized the government for abstaining and charged that the resignation is being rejected due to political motives.
The Assembly agreed to assign the parliamentary public funds protection committee to probe reports about accounts held by the former head of the pension agency in Swiss banks. The former official is currently living abroad and has been convicted of stealing tens of millions of dinars of the agency's funds. Law enforcement authorities in the country have been trying to repatriate the former head of the pension agency without success.
The National Assembly also discussed a report on resolving the housing problem in the country, in which the housing authority is demanding that its projects be exempted from the prior supervision of the Audit Bureau to accelerate their implementation. The debate on the issue will continue today. The Assembly also decided to delay the debate of a grilling against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah for two weeks at the premier's request.
