kuwait treatment of migrant labor: a step forward & two

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Kuwait Treatment of Migrant Labor:

A STEP FORWARD & TWO STEPS BACKWARD

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Kuwait Treatment of Migrant Labor:

PreparationLabor Issues Monitoring and Follow-up Unit in Kuwait

Kuwait Society for Human RightsWWW.KUWAITHR.ORG


Cover Photo:Yasser Al-ZayyatAFP/Getty

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Content Table

This Report 5

Preamble 6

Introduction 7

Fast-moving Events and Radical Changes 8

A Step Forward 8

Steps Backward: 11

Kuwaitization of Jobs, a Problem or Solution 13

Laborers’ Rights: Opportunities for Violations are High 16

Kuwait and the Philippines: Playing on the Strings of Workers 18

The Expats Exhausted our Resources 20

Recommendations 21

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This report investigates the situation of labor in Kuwait and is specialized in monitoring the legal and administrative variables in the field of labor, whether negative or positive. It also examines such variables dimensions and their effect on migrant laborers “non-citizens” as well as their effect on Kuwaiti society, state, economic vision and foreign policy.

This report is a product of translating what is happening inside Kuwait, according to the following criteria:

- Publications on media and social networking sites.

- Complaints received by the Kuwait Society for Human Rights (KSHR) via the hotline, which receives workers’ complaints and inquiries in Arabic, Hindi, English and Urdu or via the e-platform that receives complaints in Arabic and English.

- Field visits to labor groups in different locations.

- Administrative decisions issued during the reporting period.

- Communication and coordination with competent government authorities to get the latest statistics and indicators related to workers’ issues.

The reporting period covers the first third of the current year 2018: “January, February, March and April”.

This Report


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Preamble

Kuwait Society for Human Rights (KSHR) is working to spread the culture of respecting human rights; promote awareness of universal human rights instruments and defend all individuals whose rights are violated. In the framework of the KSHR concern to protect and promote these rights, it monitors the changes in the labor market, especially in the legal aspect, with a focus on migrant labor.

Since last year, the KSHR has been monitoring the legal violations perpetrated against migrants in Kuwait. Recently, the efforts to monitor the irregularities against migrant workers have been narrowed. The migrant workers were allowed to obtain any legal advice pertaining to the field of work through a hotline, an e-platform and a phone application, or to ensure submitting a pleading for a number of cases that require intervention, free of charge.

The KSHR shouldered such critical activity for its faith and commitment to the preservation of rights and freedoms for all. It focuses on migrant workers because they are a «vulnerable group»; however, the role they play in promoting for Kuwait may harm the country›s reputation externally from a humanitarian point of view, especially as it is a country of humanity well-known of giving generously.

The KSHR believes that any administrative or legal violation, individual conduct or violation of the workers› rights by companies may harm the reputation of Kuwait in the international forums, human rights and community forums. Any infringement of the workers› rights is circulated internationally through foreign media

and international human rights organizations, which puts the foreign policy of Kuwait in an embarrassing situation, and many people lose trust in the state›s efforts exerted on protecting the workers› rights, as it is circulated that Kuwait abused a worker in parallel with talking about its constant humanitarian assistance.

The KSHR believes that building new Kuwait begins with building human beings and is well aware that building human beings is done through feeding them with positive values and granting them rights and privileges as a citizen and resident and not feeding them with messages of violence, discrimination or racism. It believes in the importance of uplifting balanced discourse in lieu of the authoritarian views. The KSHR carries out different activities to fight such discourse, and it publishes many press releases and reports. This report is just a small part of a larger activity carried out by the KSHR, and through this report, it hopes to reach out to those concerned with combating the spread of hatred in the country in order to double their efforts and replace hatred and calls for extremism with the right to a decent life for all, legally, administratively and socially conscious.

Monitoring Unit for Workers Rights Issues in Kuwait

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Introduction

(1) Daily Census - Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), 30 April 2018 (2) Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau – Labor Force Survey 2016/2017 (3) Official figures issued by Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau (Quarterly Report on Labor

Statistics, 31 March 2017)

Kuwait›s population is 4,564,204 people; 3,182,367 are non-Kuwaitis and 1,381,837 Kuwaitis, i.e. 30.28% of the population are Kuwaitis, and 69.72% are non-Kuwaitis.(1) This means there is a shortage of Kuwaiti population which has led to complaints about the “demographic imbalance” and complaints about “the depletion of public services, such as health facilities and roads, traffic congestion and environmental pollution. Also, in the field of work, Kuwaitis complained about «unemployment among citizens, waste of public funds, and preference over Kuwaitis.”

Migrant labor in Kuwait is one of the most important elements in the Kuwaiti economy, either through the labor force or through consumer spending. On the other hand, the migrant labor force participation rate is 82.2% of the total population aged 15 years and above, 95.5% for males and 65.5% for females,(2) i.e. the total number of non-Kuwaiti workers is around 2,272,600 million migrant workers, 672.6 thousand individuals in the domestic sector and 1.6 million individual in other sectors.(3)

Regarding the other fields, migrant labor is a major driver of many vital economic sectors in the country, the most important of which are the real estate market, banks, telecommunications, automobiles and private education activities, as well as a large purchasing power in the nutrition, retail and public transportation sectors.


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(4) Al-Rai, 21 February http://cutt.us/itEeF

Fast-moving Events and Radical Changes

During the reporting period, multiple events related to the status of migrant labor in Kuwait occurred. The decision of Kuwaitizing government employees was initiated. Workers of one of the major companies escalated their protests against their company’s encroachments, and the diplomatic tensions between Kuwait and the Philippines was aggravated due to the situation of domestic labor. On the other hand, positive developments took place in the labor systems and a number of decisions were activated and other, decisions targeting migrant labor, were suspended. Also, the violators of the Residency Law in the country were allowed to leave without undergoing the security procedures for violators.

A Step Forward

A number of positive steps that have been taken in the Kuwaiti labor market were monitored during the reporting period:

1. On 23 January, the Ministry of the Interior issued Ministerial Decision No. 64 of 2018 on the rules of deporting foreigners who have not obtained residence permits or whose residence permits have expired in order to exempt violators of residency law, who wish to leave the country, from financial fines and security procedures so that they may return. Furthermore, those who wish to stay in the country are exempted from being referred to investigation provided that they pay the fines due in order to settle their status in the event they meet the conditions of residence.

The decision, which was initiated on 29 January and lasted until 22 February, stipulated that violators should be allowed to complete their travel procedures from any of the designated

ports directly and without being required to have the consent of any party unless it is required by security authority or travel ban. The General Department of Residence Affairs received a number of violators to complete their procedures and amend their status, and Farwaniya Residency Affairs Department worked for two shifts, along with the evening of the weekend.

“There are 154 thousand violators of the Residency Law, and because the period was not enough, Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah, the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, issued a ministerial decision to extend the deadline for two additional months until April 22, starting from 23 February, amending article 5 of the Ministerial Resolution No. 64 of 2018.” a security source told Al-Rai. (4)

The KSHR believes that the decision was issued after the labor problem has surfaced in one of the well-known companies, where the workers started a sit-in and decided to


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(5) Speech by Abdullah Al-Mutawtih, Deputy Director General of the Public Authority for Manpower for the Protection of Expatriate Labor Sector, during a meeting with representatives of diplomatic missions accredited by Kuwait on February 5.

sleep inside the company because they did not receive their financial entitlements, for more than 10 months for some of them. The KSHR doubts that the decision was issued as a solution to the problem of these workers, for they were violating the residency law because the company did not renew their permission of residence and held the passports of many of them because they are under the company’s sponsorship. Furthermore, the issue of exit from the country requires payment of fines, which is equivalent to two dinars on each day. This has pushed the KSHR to address the Ministry of Interior to exempt them from fines, especially that the number of workers violating the residency law is more than 7300 workers.

2. In February, the Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) introduced a new automated system in the Relations Department for the reception of labor complaints electronically through the PAM website available on: www.manpower.gov.kw/Labor-services.html, especially for complaints related to cancellation and transfer, financial dues, passport recovery and final cancellation of travel. This system also informs the workers via an SMS of the absconding report if filed by the employer. Also, an SMS is sent to the employer against whom a complaint is filed. Such system aims to stop malicious reports and inspect whether the worker is absent from the workplace or not.(5)

Such system is a good step by the authority in an attempt to regulate the labor market and to decide on disputes arising between the worker and the employer within the limits of the ToR and assigned tasks in accordance with the laws regulating the labor market in the private and oil sectors.

3. Introducing mechanisms pertaining to the workers protection and labor market control as well as obliging employers to implement the Labor Law provisions and dealing with the violations perpetrated against workers. These developments included the issuance of a number of decisions by the PAM on the mechanism of labor inspection, labor care and occupational safety. These decisions are seen as activation of the provisions of Law No. 6 of 2010 on work in private sector and previous resolutions such as Resolution No. 199 of 2010 and Resolution No. 198 of 2010.

4. Issuance of an administrative circular No. 103 of 2018 by the PAM, which includes the conditions for transferring migrant workers in the public sector to work in the private sector subject to the approval of the government agency in which the worker works and obtaining the security approval from the Ministry of Interior.

5. HH Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued an Amiri pardon which included citizens and residents detained in prisons, and many prisoners, especially those sentenced to financial issues.

6. Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Subeeh announced the postponement of implementing the decision to stop the recruitment of workers who hold university certificates and are below 30 years old for further study it, after the decision was to be implemented by the beginning of 2018. The Deputy Director General of the Planning and Professional Skills Accreditation Sector at PAM Dr. Mubarak Al-Azmi revealed that the PAM is working on the system of pre-employment tests in


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(6) Al-Rai Newspaper, January 21

order to determine the professional level and skill of laborers. He added that the PAM has coordinated with the Kuwait Engineers Society to conduct professional tests of newly recruited expatriate engineers and for re-testing of expatriate engineers who are already working in the country.(6)

7. On 7 April, Civil Service Commission (CSC) adopted regulations for hiring migrant workers’ expertise for the first time in jobs like doctors, pharmacists, auxiliary medical services and nursing, provided that the general assessment of the academic qualification is very good at a minimum.

8. On 26 April, the Kuwaiti judiciary issued a ruling on a human trafficking case against a citizen, which was a precedent and the first of its kind. This is perhaps the most prominent of the positive aspects witnessed by the Kuwaiti labor scene during the reporting period. The Kuwaiti Criminal Court sentenced a Kuwaiti citizen along with three with no nationality (Statelessness) to life imprisonment after being found guilty of human trafficking in accordance with Law No. 91 of 2013 on Combating Human Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants; they were convicted of trafficking a group of Asian workers in medical institutes for massages and forcing them to engage in adultery with customers.

9. According to statistics issued by the Department of Domestic Labor, during the reporting period, the Department revoked the licenses of 8 domestic employment offices and suspended the activity of 6 other offices due to non-compliance and violation of the law. The Department also investigated 631 complaints and referred 108 of them to trial and recovered 12.267 dinars to workers in the domestic sector.

The KSHR led a number of interventions to protect a number of workers in the domestic sector. The results of the interventions culminated with winning many of the complaints received by the KSHR. The KSHR addressed the Department of Domestic Labor with four official cases which have been resolved in favor of the workers. The cases vary in nature, such as the recovery of passports and financial dues. A female domestic worker won a case, who had spent five years in a workplace similar to a detention; she was deprived of her monthly dues and forced to work for long periods of time without rest, she was not allowed to use the phone but during the night and for limited time.


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(7) Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), April 1(8) Al-Anbaa Newspaper, January 10. (9) Press Statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-

Saleh; Al-Qabas Newspaper, January 12 (10) Al-Anbaa Newspaper, January 14

Steps Backward:

Despite the good efforts made by the government to protect and preserve the rights of non-Kuwaiti workers, and in parallel with those hailed efforts, there were counter-measures targeting workers:

1. On April 1, the Parliamentary Finance Committee approved bills on imposing fees on remittances of expatriates after ensuring that there was no constitutional violation by a majority of 4 to 1, with 1% deducted for every 99 dinars, 2% for the amount between 100 - 199 dinars, 3% for the sum of 200 - 299 dinars, 4% of the amount between 300 - 399, and 5% is deducted from amounts over 400 per remittance, which pushes towards the emergence of a market parallel to external remittances.(7)

2. On 9 January, the Restructuring of the Workforce and State’s Executive Apprateus Program held a discussion session with the Industry and Labor Committee at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the presence of representatives of sectors and quality activities and all unions to discuss the implementation of the Cabinet Decision No. 1028 of 2014 on the amendment of the national employment rates to private employers. The meeting was based on Article 9 of Law No. 19 of 2000 on National Labor Support and Encouraging Them to Work in Non-Governmental Bodies, which authorized the Cabinet to determine the percentage of the national workforce that the non-governmental organizations are committed to in various jobs and occupations according to economic activities. Also, all bodies that do not

comply with the percentage shall be subject to the payment of an additional annual fee for each work permit for each non-Kuwaiti worker recruited by the body in excess of the planned number of non-national employment. This authorization shall be accompanied by the Cabinet authorization to reconsider at least once every two years the percentage and fees.(8)

3. In January, it was announced that the decision of Kuwaitization of government posts will be forced and the policy of replacing migrant workers with the national employment will be implemented.

Decree No. (11) of 2017 on the Rules and Procedures for Kuwaitization of Government Jobs “is the most important event witnessed by the labor market, which aims to reduce the number of migrant workers in government agencies on an annual basis in order to reach by 2022 the percentages specified for each job group. In light of that, a number of workers in a number of institutions were terminated and given a period of three months to leave their jobs, the deadline expires in early June.

On January 11, the decision of Kuwaitization (9) was completed, and two days later, the decision entered into force. The ministries and government agencies were approached in coordination with the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) to prepare a list of the number of non-Kuwaiti employees who will be laid off in the next fiscal year, starting from April 2018 until the end of March 2019. The administrative support jobs will be frozen, which is one of five specialties that will be fully subject to Kuwaitization, and the government agencies will be obliged to reduce the number of expatriate employees annually.(10)


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(11) Al-Rai Newspaper, January 21 (12) Al-Rai Newspaper, March 8 (13) Al-Masila Newspaper, March 8

Following this, a number of migrant workers were laid off as follows:

� On January 4, the services of a group of employees of the General Authority for People with Disabilities were terminated in various sectors and their departments, except for some positions such as accountants.

� On January 14, the administrative employment of KPC and its affiliated oil companies was reduced. The first group with marginal support jobs were transferred to contractor agreements into a private company in which the KPC has a direct and indirect share. 150 jobs have been identified from current employees who hold support functions such as secretaries, correspondents, telephone & switchboard operators, representatives, stationary responsible, admins, telex operators, graphic designers, supervisors of cleaners and the like and transferred to the contractor agreements.

� On January 15, all services of legal professionals according to the general staff as a legal researcher in the Fatwa and Legislation Department were terminated.

� On January 16, the Ministry of Information announced the termination of contracts of all advisers in the Ministry.

� On January 21, the CSB asked the Ministry of Finance to cancel 3108 jobs of expatriates working in the government agencies during the fiscal year 2019/2018.(11)

� On January 28, the Ministry of Interior completed the inventory of workers who will be terminated, among which are legal professionals, most of which are auditors or internships. The layoff will be subject to a three-month stay in job in accordance with the laws and regulations.

� On February 5, 1000 workers in the Ministry of Interior departments were laid off within the policy of layoff framework; the work is undergoing to terminate the service of around 150 workers.

� On March 4, proposals were referred to the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee to Kuwaitize the staff of embassies, consulates, attachés and health, information and cultural offices abroad by at least 80 percent of the total staff.

� On March 7, the CSB determined the number of workers to be laid off and froze the budget allocated for them for the fiscal year 2018/2019. The CSB addressed 27 ministries and government bodies to freeze the number of 2690 jobs of expatriates.(12)

� March 8, the Undersecretary Assistant of Financial, Administrative and Legal Sector in the Ministry of Labor Hamad Al-Ghareeb stated that 40 workers will be laid off by July, according to the required percentage to be laid off in the different staff groups. Also, the ministry is committed to CSB decision of Kuwaitizaiton of government jobs.(13)

� On March 9, the Central Bank of Kuwait issued instructions to local banks to raise the Kuwaitization rate to 80 percent by the end of this year.

� On March 12, 436 workers in the Ministry of Awqaf will be terminated as of July first.

� On March 18, the Department of Human Resources in the Ministry of Education sent out the names of 1507 workers covered by the termination as of the end of the current school year; the names were sent to the departments of educational affairs and social and psychological observers in the educational areas in order to notify those concerned with official letters.

� On March 29, 253 workers in the Ministry of Health will be terminated as of July first.

� April 1, the Ministry of Awqaf will terminate 428 workers, including engineers, academics, and other jobs.

� On April 4, 14 workers in the Ministry of Social Affairs will be terminated as of July first.

� On April 14, Al-Rai revealed that the CSB is willing to freeze 3108 worker contracts, who will be laid off in the upcoming fiscal year in 48 government agencies.

� On April 27, “The new decision of increasing the proportion of national labor in the private sector will be referred to the Cabinet for consideration and approval,” according to the press release of the Minister of Social Affairs, Hind Al-Subeeh, who expected to be announced before Ramadan at the latest.


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(14) CSB statistics until the end of 2017. (15) Al-Rai Newspaper, 19 January 2018 (https://goo.gl/vGMWao) (16) Al-Rai Newspaper, January 19, https://goo.gl/Zxh4nh (17) Al-Rai Newspaper, March 3, https://goo.gl/vCDydr

Kuwaitization of Jobs, a Problem or Solution

The number of civil servants in the Kuwaiti government jobs is 306,030 employees. The country’s citizens make up 226,269 jobs, i.e. 73.94%, while the number of migrants is 79,761, representing 26.06%.(14)

Migrant labor work in the different government sectors; however, the largest number of them work in the Ministries of Health and Education, whose representatives reported, during a meeting with the Replacement and Employment Committee, that the two ministries cannot apply the replacement policy to the difficulty of the matter.(15)

There is a general tendency to modify the composition of the workforce in the government apparatus by appointing the country’s citizens instead of other migrant workers.

The CSB has developed a plan aimed at linking the actual needs of the labor market in government agencies with the required specialties by sending the state employees on scholarships or study leave.

The Civil Service Commission issued Decree No. (11) of 2017 on the Rules and Procedures for Kuwaitization of Government Jobs, which obliges the government agencies to reduce the number of non-Kuwaiti employees on an annual basis for a period of five years. The decree aims to increase the number of employees of the country’s citizens. The CSB is responsible for the preparation of an annual study to identify the jobs covered by the Kuwaitization and the number of non-Kuwaiti employees whose services should be terminated after coordination with the Ministry of Finance.

On January 17, the Parliamentary Replacement and Employment Committee met with the CSB to discuss the Kuwaitization process. The meeting stated that the number of unemployed Kuwaitis is about 12 thousand, most of them do not have academic qualifications, while others do not have any qualification, which makes it difficult to find job opportunities for them.(16) However, the Head of the Replacement Committee Khalil Al-Saleh accused a “team of advisers” of circumventing the responses and manipulating the numbers when reporting the number of Kuwaitis seeking jobs.(17)

As a matter of fact, the Government has linked the scholarship plan with the rare and required specialties, after the CSB has developed a plan to link the actual needs of the labor market with all the governmental bodies with the required majors of study.


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(18) Al-Nahar Newspaper (19) National Assembly website (20) Al-Rai Newspaper (21) Al-Rai Newspaper (22) Al-Dustor News Network (23) Al-Anbaa Newspaper (24) Al-Anbaa Newspaper

The government has announced that it will reduce the number of expats to 1 million, i.e. more than 2 million deportations, up to 100,000 every year until 2023, coinciding with the job Kuwaitization decision that gave the government agencies a period of five years to implement it ending in 2022.

In parallel with the announcement of civil jobs nationalization, negative calls emerged by the members of the National Assembly and leading officials assuming different positions. Such calls were monitored as follows:

� On January 19, a member of the Permanent Committee for Streamlining Business Environment & Enhancing Competitiveness (PCK), MP Ahmed Al-Fadhl called for the Kuwaitization of craft sectors in the Kuwaiti market with the aim to: “So that the money does not go abroad, but remains in Kuwait and moves the economy.”(18)

� On February 24, the Kuwaiti National Assembly held a session on “Expatriate Labor in the Ministry of Oil and the Kuwaitization of Petroleum Corporation and Kuwait Oil Company”, during which an answer to a question of one of the deputies was addressed on the expats jobs and their salaries and the confirmation that the secretary jobs have been fully Kuwaitized, and that the company is free of service contracts.(19)

� On March 14, a press statement by the Chairman of Parliamentary Job Replacement and Employment Crisis Committee says that the appointment of expats in administrative posts is

no longer acceptable.(20)

� On March 25, a press statement by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Job Replacement and Employment Crisis Committee, Khalil Al-Saleh says, “In the future, we will not accept any job that a Kuwaiti deserves to go to an expat or others. In general, we do not underestimate expats, but hiring Kuwaitis is above all else.(21)

� On March 25, an MP proposed increasing the percentage of job Kuwaitization in the cooperatives sector, and terminating all expats contracts in the cooperative societies who have been appointed 18 years ago or have become over 60 years of age.(22)

� On April 8, the MP Nassir Al-Dawsari proposed increasing the percentage of job Kuwaitization in the cooperatives sector by hiring young people in the cooperative societies and giving Kuwaiti retirees a greater chance to work in the societies.(23)

� On April 9, the Head of Kuwait Oil and Petrochemical Industries Union Mohammed Hamad Al-Hajeri called the Petroleum Corporation to issue an immediate decision to stop the recruitment of foreigners in new projects in the oil sector.(24)

� On April 10, the Parliamentary Job Replacement and Employment Crisis Committee warned the government agencies concerned about the recruitment file of procrastination and delay in responding to the committee’s inquiries regarding the number and titles of jobs for which Kuwaiti nationals were appointed.(25)

Five years ago, the government expressed its intention to reduce the number of foreign residents. At that time, the country’s budget had suffered a financial deficit resulting from the formidable decline in oil prices. Since then, the demographic composition has started to be addressed more and more, and solutions have been presented in this regard. The most prominent solutions are the launch of a reform program depending on reducing subsidies and imposing duties and taxes, especially for expats. The discussion about such an issue has expanded, and racist actions have taken place.


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(25) Al-Rai Newspaper(26) Al-Dustor News Network, January 24 (27) Al-Rai Newspaper

Other Calls Monitored:

� On January 4, members of the National Assembly addressed and discussed the appointments of migrant workers in the Ministry of Social Affairs in implementation of the terms of interrogating the Minister of Social Affairs in the National Assembly.

� On January 22, community and parliamentary backlash took place against the appointment of non-Kuwaitis to foreign missions and consulates of Kuwait, and the Foreign Affairs Committee announced including the Kuwaitization of embassies jobs on their agenda.

� On January 23, a woman MP stated that the reason for the uneven employment opportunities for Kuwaitis is “the influx of expats in the state jobs,” noting that the Minister of Social Affairs ended the services of 4 expats.(26)

� On January 29, an MP asked the Minister of Health about the promotion of migrant workers during the last three years and asked for a list containing their names.

� On January 31, a press release by the Parliamentary Job Replacement and Employment Crisis Committee addressed the educational institutions role in limiting employment and applying the replacement policy.

� On February 14, the MP Abdulwahahb Al-Babiteen directed a question to all ministers regarding the appointment of expats as advisers, and asserted that non-Kuwaitis are receiving benefits

along with salary such as travel tickets, housing allowance and health insurance.

� On February 13, an MP stated, “The expats are such opportunistic bacteria.”

� On March 25, a press release by the Parliamentary Job Replacement and Employment Crisis Committee stated that whoever monitors the foreign remittances of expats will definitely demand that the replacement policy be implemented immediately.(27)

� On March 30, an MP asked the Minister of Oil and the Minister of Electricity and Water about the non-Kuwaiti employees in Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its companies, and the external tasks assigned to them, and demanded the disclosure of expats employees in the Petroleum Corporation and its affiliates sent to official missions and external training courses for the past three years.

� On 24 April, the MP Omar al-Tabtabai asked the Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of State for Service Affairs, Jenan Bushehri, about the Civil Aviation Technical Bureau contracting with foreign consultants, including the former Lebanese president of Civil Aviation and asked to be provided with the contract, its value and duration. The MP also asked about the salaries of expats, their qualifications and the justification behind recruiting them.


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(28) Al-Rai Newspaper, February 13, 2017

Laborers’ Rights: Opportunities for Violations are High

Kuwait has ratified 19 ILO Conventions, including seven of the eight fundamental conventions, which have given priority to international labor standards and are supposedly to guarantee the rights of workers in its domestic laws, but are based primarily on the recruitment of migrant workers under the sponsorship system.

This system links labor visas to those who recruited them, which raises the chances of abuse and exploitation of labor. In addition, it restricts the workers’ freedom and places them under the responsibility of the sponsors, which gives the sponsors the power to control the workers’ life in terms of renewing residence and moving to another work. Such system also gives the sponsors the mechanism of deporting the worker through absconding reports and provides the sponsors with facilitations to be a trader of residencies and a key contributor to the increase of marginal employment.

The migrant labor in Kuwait operates according to a number of laws. The workers of private and oil sectors are subject to Law No. (6) of 2010 on the Work in the Private Sector. This law grants many rights to the workers. During the reporting period, it was noticed that the law contains a number of gaps, such as the fact that it does not criminalize the violation of its clauses, e.g. seizing the passport with the sponsor; compliance with the number of work hours; financial entitlements; end of service benefits and the delay of the worker’s salary for seven days. However, the new amendments addressed these gaps and identified penalties in the same law for violators. Yet, the law still does not contain a clause that grants the worker an annual increase in pay.

As for domestic labor, they are included in the Kuwaiti Domestic Employment Law No. 68 of 2015. This sector tops the list of the highest jobs occupied by migrant workers, according

to the statistics of the Public Authority for Civil Information, which quoted the word “servant” when referring to the domestic workers, which is necessarily a word with racist implications related to color and function. The KSHR has called in previous human rights reports to replace the word “servant” with the word “domestic worker”, which the concerned bodies responded to.

The workers in this sector possess a vital and important law that guarantees many of the worker’s rights. However, it is noted that the length of work hours, which is 12 hours as a maximum, contains only hour for rest, but the long hours are not commensurate with the decision of the Ministry of Interior that the salaries of workers in this sector should be 60 dinars (About 200 USD) as a minimum. This is a major burden on the worker and has led to a number of problems, for example, the suspension of Indian domestic workers, and the requirement of the Government of India that the domestic worker’s salary should not be less than 75 dinars (about 250 USD).

Director of Domestic Employment Department at the Ministry of Interior Mohammed Al-Ajmi had complained that the law prevented them from taking any punitive measures in order not to violate the provisions of the law. He also added that they wish to deposit the salaries of workers in this sector with banks, pointing out that the Central Bank and the Union of Banks strongly rejected that.(28)


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(29) Al-Rai Newspaper (30) Arab Times, February 20 (31) Al-Dustor News Network (32) Al-Dustor News Network (33) Al-Rai Newspaper (34) Al-Masila News

The KSHR has received many complaints from domestic workers. These complaints were similar in content, complaining about “long work hours without rest; working for long hours without pay; being prevented from annual leaves.” Domestic labor is subjected to many violations, sometimes amounting to slavery, torture, humiliation and rape, which has caused political problems between the Government of Kuwait and the Philippines in addition to a number of countries such as Sri Lanka, India and Ethiopia.

Migrant workers in Kuwait are generally subjected to racist decisions, while receiving a large amount of accusations. Also, speeches of violence have spread over social media and other media outlets, and the responsible for such speeches are mostly members of the National Assembly or government officials.

Meanwhile, workers in Kuwait and their families do not have the right to education in public schools. Kuwait has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Article 40 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, however, guarantees the right to education for Kuwaitis only.

During the reporting period, the following were monitored:

� On January 3, the Research and Investigation Department in the General Department of Residency Affairs Investigation of the Ministry of Interior included the names of 46 workers in the most wanted list in preparation for their expulsion from the country. This came after the seizure of 9 fictitious companies and their sponsorships. This is monitored as a human offense because the worker has no fault that the company is fake.

� On January 11, a member of the National Assembly proposed imposing fees for the expats driving license amounting to 1000 dinars, and 500 dinars for renewing the license annually. Furthermore, imposing fees on expats who possess more than one car registered in his name starting from 500 dinars at a cumulative rate and preventing renewal of the vehicle registration

certificate for the expats if the age of the vehicle registered in his name is more than 10 years.(29)

� On February 3, The Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly proposed a law on taxing foreign remittances for migrant workers.

� On February 11, the Kuwaiti Union of Domestic Labor Offices demanded the government for the halt of renewing the Filipino employment residencies along the lines of the problems between the two countries.

� On February 20, Major General Fahd al-Shawi, Undersecretary of Traffic Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, stated that a decision will be issued to prevent expatriates from owning more than one car, arguing that some of them have 60 to 70 cars and that one “domestic worker” owns five cars in his name, let alone that some expats have cars in their name but do not have a driving license.(30)

� On March 14, an MP called for the withdrawal of jobs occupied by non-Kuwaitis in the private sector and granting them to Kuwaitis, either by replacement or direct appointment, including Kuwait’s embassies abroad.(31)

� On March 25, bills were discussed, including the imposition of a tax or fees on foreign remittances of expats, in the presence of Finance Minister Nayef Al Hajraf and Governor of the Central Bank Mohammad Al-Hashel, with the aim of adding amounts ranging from 50 to 60 million dinars to the public budget of the State annually.(32)

� On March 31, an article published in Al-Anba Kuwaiti newspaper suggests that the Ministry of Interior stop all expats’ driving licenses without exception. The article added that, “They are then re-granted according to the law, and I am sure that half of the licenses granted to expats will become not legible.”(33)

� On April 28, oil officials stated that the KPC and its affiliates spent 18.3 million dinars during the fiscal year 2017/2018 for the cost of medical treatment for migrant workers in the oil sector and their families in Ahmadi Hospital, while the cost of treatment of migrants during the last five years in the oil sector amounted to 95 million dinars.(34)


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(35) Reuters, February 9 (36) ALEADASA (37) BBC Arabic

Kuwait and the Philippines: Playing on the Strings of Workers

The reporting period witnessed the emergence of a diplomatic crisis between Kuwait and the Philippines as a result of the Philippines’ laborers situation in Kuwait, domestic workers in particular.

A Filipino domestic worker died in Kuwait and a forensic report from Kuwait stated that the cause of death was “angina pectoris”, yet after her body was sent to the Philippines, a forensic report from the Philippines showed that the cause of death was an assault.

Things have started to escalate, until another issue emerged, a female Filipino body stored in a freezer in a deserted apartment in Kuwait was found, which escalated the crisis between the two countries, especially after the Philippines announced the suspension of sending its nationals to work in Kuwait. The Philippines described the incident as an act of abuse of its citizens in Kuwait(35), and asked Kuwait to do something about the sexual abuse of Filipino workers.(36) The Philippine media published press releases of a group of Filipino workers returning from Kuwait to their country confirming that they were subjected to coercive conditions during their stay and work in Kuwait.

The dispute has reached a critical point, and the Philippine authorities asked the private airlines to evacuate their citizens from Kuwait. The crisis has surfaced and witnessed successive developments and unprecedented diplomatic moves, especially after the Philippines Embassy in Kuwait violated the Vienna Convention on

Diplomatic Relations 1961 and freed a number of domestic workers in a clear violation of the role of the Kuwaiti Ministry of the Interior. This led to ordering the Philippines ambassador to leave Kuwait’s territory within a week, being an unacceptable person, and the Philippines summoned the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines for consultation.

For its part, the Philippines declared a “total ban” on the travel of its workers to Kuwait, including those who have obtained work permits and who have not yet left for Kuwait. The previous ban prevented Filipinos from applying for work permits in Kuwait. Since then, the two countries are working on reaching an agreement to protect the rights of Filipino workers in Kuwait.

According to Philippine authorities, 252,000 of its nationals work in Kuwait, most of them in domestic labor, with about 170,000 domestic workers.(37)


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(38) Al-Rai Newspaper, February 21 (39) ibid. (40) Public Authority for Civil Information

Migrant workers in Kuwait working in the field of blacksmithing (Photograph، Tawhid ar-Rahman، Flickr)

Philippine employment has benefited from the decision to resolve the situation. The Philippine Embassy sent from 150 to 200 violation cases for departure on daily basis from the total of 10,000 violators.(38)

The Ambassador of the Philippines to Kuwait stated that his country has sent additional support to the Embassy staff, six consular officers to relieve the pressure on embassy staff and help complete the documents of the residency violators of the Philippine community.(30) The KSHR has some doubts that the

additional staff duties exceeded that and were responsible for the smuggling of domestic workers.(39)

The Philippines has 191,000 workers in Kuwait, of whom 94% are economically active. Women account for 81% of the total number of Filipinos, 95% of whom are economically activity. According to nationalities in Kuwait, the Filipinos represent 0.8% of workers in the government sector, and 5% of the nationalities working in the private sector, accounting for 22% of the total domestic workforce.(40)


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(41) Statement by the Chairman of the Committee Khalil Al-Saleh to Al-Rai Newspaper, December 31, 2017. (42) Al-Anbaa Newspaper, March 28

The Expats Exhausted our Resources

The media, social media, members of the National Assembly and government officials have repeatedly pointed out that increasing the number of migrants necessarily leads to a number of risks and burdens on the state treasury, health and education services, environmental pollution, erosion of public roads and traffic congestion as well as hindering development plans and their responsibility for the spread of unemployment and other countless problems.

Perhaps the most highlighted talks that are being promoted against migrants are that their presence represents a real threat to the Kuwaiti national economy as a result of their “continued depletion” of the state’s resources, either through the benefits they receive along with government salaries such as travel tickets, housing allowance and annual leave or through the external remittances.

These very signals necessarily changed the whole thing from finding solutions to the problems of the country, to the task of “encircling the pockets of immigrants”. A number of decisions have been taken to implement the mission, beginning with reconsidering the issue of joining the family and raising its costs, to removing health support, huge increases in health services that do not depend on the health insurance paid by the resident annually, and then approving the Kuwaitization “nationalization” of the government jobs, laying off the non-governmental employees and finally imposing taxes on the migrant labor remittances.

In the Kuwaiti National Assembly, the deputies’ consultations gave rise to the need to rebalance the demographic composition. At the end of last year, the MP Khalil al-Saleh announced the need to form a temporary parliamentary committee to replace migrant labor with Kuwaitis in the state posts. The replacement and employment committee was then formed to take the first decisions: “Sending official letters to the relevant government agencies to inquire about the career replacement mechanism followed in the ministries

and government institutions, as well as the employment of expatriates and how it was done and on the basis of which provisions”.(41)

Many citizens have acquired a racist culture towards migrants. The continuous passive indoctrination through various media platforms and the various media addressing society issues according to the theory of “citizen and expatriate” has communicated to the society in general, especially children in an indirect manner, messages of mobilization towards both parties, whether intentionally or unintentionally, everyone may become in enmity with everyone.

Addressing the issues superficially necessarily presents Kuwait in a bad image abroad, whether through the migrants themselves, who communicate what is happening in the country with their friends around the world, or through publications of local and international media and human rights organizations.

The racist attack on migrant workers affects the future of the country in general, and necessarily impedes the future of Kuwait, which is dictated by the wise leadership of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who is working to turn Kuwait into a financial and commercial center by 2035. How would this be done while there are taxes imposed on expatriate remittances?(42) How can a country attract a “foreign” investor while imposing taxes on its foreign transfers and accuses it of being one of the reasons for the erosion of roads, traffic congestions and exhausting the state resources?


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Recommendations

This Kuwaiti Human Rights Society report recommends that positive steps should continue to protect workers’ rights in Kuwait, reduce racist attacks targeting them and deal with them as a problem. The KSHR also hopes to rationalize speeches against migrant workers aimed at spreading hatred in the society. The KSHR recommends:

1. Cancel the sponsorship system and transfer the sponsorship to the government.

2. Update labor legislation and criminalize its violators.

3. Ensure decent work for laborers, especially domestic labor.

4. Administrative deportation shall be canceled permanently and replaced by judicial deportation.

5. Stop targeting migrants’ pockets and refrain from discrimination in official decisions.

6. Non-discrimination in the right to education and health.

7. Replace the term servant in the official transactions or official websites.


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This report was issued by the Migrant Workers Support Project in Kuwait, which is implemented by the KSHR in cooperation with the Swiss Agency for

Development and Cooperation (SDC). This project aims to raising awareness and providing legal protection to migrant workers in Kuwait. The Support Project

aims to protect migrant workers’ rights and address the violations the face by providing legal support to them, raising their awareness about their rights and

motivating the community to advocate for their issues.

Any views contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

kuwait treatment of migrant labor: a step forward & two

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