ShareVoice against the rights of domestic workers
This report by the Kuwait Society for Human Rights examines the reality of labor in Kuwait, and specializes in monitoring legal, administrative, positive and negative changes happening in the field, and in reading the dimensions of these changes on migrant workers "noncitizens" and their impact on the Kuwaiti society, State, economic vision and foreign policy.
Negative steps
The Labor Relations Department at the Public Authority for Labor Force has not responded to the efforts of Kuwait Society for Human Rights about providing interpreters in several languages (English, French, Filipino, Hindi-Urdu) free of charge for non-Arabic-speaking workers when they attend to the centers of Work Relations Department in all the provinces within the project "Support" which is implemented by the Society which aims to provide legal protection for migrant workers in Kuwait. Despite continuous attempts to activate and maintain this service, Kuwait Society for Human Rights has not received any response and that has lately forced the Society to suspend that service.
It is worth mentioning that the Society has obtained the approval of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to provide interpreter and obtained preliminary approval from the Department of Labor Relations prior to the start of the project. The Public Authority for Labor Force does not provide interpreters in Work Relations Centers in all provinces. In addition, the complaint forms which are signed by the workers and subsequently submitted to the court as part of the official record are not available except in Arabic.
There is a lack of unified procedures to conduct the complaints submitted to the Public Authority for Human Rights, rather than asking questions to the employer and the worker, especially in complaints of cancellation and transfer. It is assumed that when the worker is the former to file a complaint against the employer, the employer is prevented from registering an absence notice against the worker, as it would be a malicious absence notice in this case. However, according to many of the complaints received by the Society through the hotline, workers reported that after they filed complaints, they were surprised by absence notices were register against them later than the date of filing their complaints.
A statement by a member of parliament demanding the allocation of the services of Al-Durra Company, which is a joint stock company that provides domestic labor for demanders, for citizens rather than expatriates after the start of its work. He called on the concerned authorities to instruct the company to make the priority of recruitment to meet the needs of the citizens, stressing that resolving this crisis is the government's responsibility.
In this regard, this allocation did not come as a security or legal justification, as he wanted to curb the waiting lines that continue because of overcrowding and has directed the cause of overcrowding to expatriates not citizens, and that was an unjustified discrimination. He said that Al Durra Company was born from the suffering of the citizen so it must serve him and make him a priority not expatriate. And this discrimination between the expatriate and citizen does not solve the crisis of overcrowding, because nationality has nothing to do with it. Citizens may gather in front of this company to create queues again without the presence of one expatriate, which confirms that it is a regulatory problem that can be solved by providing electronic requests and the regulation of traffic of clients and reduce overcrowding.
Monthly wages
Low monthly wages of petrol station workers up to 40 KD has been monitored, which is lower than the minimum wage, despite the categorical denial of sources in the Public Authority for Labor Force, that the monthly wage granted to fuel workers is that small, stressing that the system in the Authority does not accept transactions in which labor wages are less than 75 KD, since they are defined in advance in accordance with a minimum ministerial decree for wages of workers in the private and oil sectors.
However, the source who published the news confirmed that the salaries are actually low, and differ from one company to another, and start from 40 dinars in cash, and up to 50 or 70 or even 100 dinars, but not in cash, where the salary is deducted for several allowances as allowances of housing, transport to and from the work place, and meal, therefore the worker has little left
The Civil Service Bureau has activated the decision of non-entitlement of migrant workers in government agencies for end of service benefits only after the cancellation of their residence under Article 17 of the Residence Law and providing them with a notice of leaving the country. Therefore, they are not allowed to transfer their residence to private sector or they will be denied their end of service benefits. This is contrary to the labor laws and the ILO conventions, since this decision is an arbitrary measure against migrant workers because the end of service benefit is a right of the worker that cannot be denied or linked to conditions that obstruct his access to it.
This decision is one from a set that were issued in order to apply the policy of replacement and reduction of the number of expatriates in government agencies in order to modify the demographic structure. However, that will harm the rights of migrant workers as well as it will not contribute to solving the problem of the demographic structure. Also the labor market is subject to supply and demand and the countries that receive workers should provide them with all the guarantees that ensure their financial dues, and should not prevent them from obtaining other employment opportunities in the country.
Residence traders
Kuwait Society for Human Rights has received a number of complaints from workers who were brought to Kuwait by fictitious companies (residence traders). They stated that they paid amounts of more than 1,500 KD (5000 USD). Upon arrival, they tried to contact the sponsor to complete the residency procedures to no avail.
The sponsor obtains profits from his illegal trade and when he brings workers to Kuwait, he evades his obligations. The worker finds himself unemployed and convicted, and that forces him to work in irregular circumstances and in violation of the internal law, in order to pay his accumulated debts, despite the punishment of three years and a fine of two thousand dinars and not more than ten thousand dinars for each employer who brings workers from outside the country or to use workers from inside the country and then not to hand them the work or prove the lack of actual need for them.
The Authority implements administrative deportations without reference to the worker or verification whether the decision was taken on a violation committed by the worker or not. In many cases, employers refuse to pay the salaries of migrant workers who have worked for them. So that the worker does not demand his right, the employer cancels the work permits or registers a malicious notice of absence. Therefore, a warrant of arrest is issued to arrest the worker and then to administratively deport him from the country. Sometimes, it goes beyond that and the worker is exploited to work in a labor sector other than that authorized for him to work in.
Workers and Shadow of Human Trafficking
Although Kuwait has enacted Law No. 91 of 2013 on Combating Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants, that states a punishment up to 15 year-imprisonment and life sentence in some cases, the weakness of enforcement mechanisms has made it insufficient to reach all cases of human trafficking, and to ascertain suspected cases.
There are limited coordination among competent authorities and lack of unified operational procedures, although the current situation suggests trafficking suspicions hovering around many sectors of employment of migrant workers as we have received a number of calls on the Hotline from female domestic workers who are subjected to abuses, which may amount to crimes of trafficking. That is in addition to the practices followed by the majority of recruitment offices of deception about the nature and wages of work.
During August, a Guinean domestic worker suffered serious fractures after she threw herself out of the window of her room in the fourth floor of a house belongs to a recruitment office of domestic labor in Al-Manqaf district of Al Ahmadi province. She entered into a coma (24). In the same month, we received a report that a domestic worker has escaped from a shelter of a recruitment office in Hawally and resorted to her embassy in Kuwait, the Indian Embassy, where she reported that she and six other women were raped. We contacted the relevant authorities to investigate the case. In view of the above, we are concerned about the weakness of law enforcement mechanisms, while monitoring these violations of female domestic workers.
Voices against the rights of domestic workers
In early July, a social networking celebrity has appeared to criticize a number of terms in the agreement signed by Kuwait and the Philippines on domestic labor, describing it as 'funny' .She works as a beauty expert and is followed by nearly two and a half million. Following her statement through Snapchat, which is popular among Kuwaitis, a wave of anger broke out and turned into a local public opinion issue between the two countries.
In her press statement for Monte Carlo International, she said that the wave of anger against her is "unjustified" and she "refuses to apologize". She added, "It is my right as a sponsor to detain a servant's passport after paying up to 1,500 dinars. This is not an insult to the workers and has nothing to do to humanity and human rights, because I did not deprive these workers of the salary or expose them to beating".
As a result of her previous statement, social networking sites caught up with their local and international accounts. Most of them criticized this proposition and considered it inhuman because they saw it as a clear persecution of female workers, especially on the subject of the weekly leave, which may be considered as a simple right for anyone working for a whole week in domestic hard tasks which may cause continued fatigue, while supported by many, especially the employers who have domestic labor.
Following the wave of support, the Manila-based International Migrant Group said the account owner should make a public apology, saying the statement owner had "a backward view that literally descends into the dark ages". On the other hand, the Association of Home Help in the Middle East said in a statement, "We strongly demand that she makes a public apology and expresses real remorse for her (disgusting) statements." They added, "It would be more useful if she could visit the Philippines to witness the extreme poverty of many Filipino families and learn about the difficulties Filipino workers face in government employment companies before they are sent abroad"
As the pro-and anti-campaign continued towards these statements, the Association, through its websites and mailing lists, launched an awareness campaign on Domestic Labor Law 68 of 2015, which allows domestic workers to keep their personal documents such as passports and civil cards.
'The Unit of Monitor and Followup of Workers› Rights in Kuwait has followed a large number of comments in the campaign on the provisions of the Labor Law. It noted that there is a lack of knowledge about the articles of the law issued in 2015 and lack of acceptance of some of its articles, believing that these articles are new decisions and have not been adopted three years ago. The Monitor Unit has considered that an awareness campaign should be conducted to raise the awareness of the society in general of the fundamental rights granted to the workers in Kuwait by the law. --- provided by Kuwait Society for Human Rights, visit www.kuwaithr.org for more
