KUWAIT CITY, Oct 21: The international community was abuzz with rumors on the negative impact of Kuwait’s new labor law on the expatriate workers after the Financial Times Newspaper published a report on the statement of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor undersecretary in his interview with Al-Jazeera TV earlier that the Kuwaiti government intends to modify the sponsorship system only to ease procedures for the expatriate workers to transfer from one sponsor to another, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily quoting sources.

The undersecretary made the statement a day after Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasi announced the government’s plan to scrap the sponsorship system in February as a Liberation Day gift to the expatriates.

Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, pointed out the employers in Kuwait keep the official documents of their workers and they have the power to deport any employee in case he escapes due to maltreatment. She said the Kuwaiti government left the expatriate workers under the mercy of the employers.

Whitson added the Kuwaiti government approved a law to pave the way for change only after long years of being subjected to criticisms from various international human rights organizations. She said the government has also announced its plan to establish an independent authority, which will be tasked to issue work permits for workers hired from abroad. However, she observed visa trading seems to be a lucrative business in Kuwait, albeit illegal, because the amount some foreigners pay to get a work permit ranges from KD 500 to KD 1,500.

It is worth mentioning that the decision to scrap the sponsorship system does not cover the domestic workers, considering the housemaids constitute more than a third of the total expatriate workforce in the country and they are the most abused group in the Kuwaiti society.