Kuwait ‘report’ on human rights out – Strict eye on child labor

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KUWAIT CITY, March 24: Kuwait announced the issuance of the voluntary report on national progress in implementing the goals of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration last February. The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Al-Seyassah daily and prepared by the permanent national committee to prepare reports and follow up on recommendations related to human rights, stated that there is a tendency to develop a labor market information system and mechanisms for the recruitment of expatriate workers, by starting to implement the application of the professional qualifications system and conducting tests.

The tests will be based on professionalism on the current and new workers inside and outside Kuwait to ensure raising the level of labor productivity in the local market, and to control the process of granting commercial licenses for investment activities by linking them with the academic qualifications necessary to practice those activities.

The report added there is a development of a system that allows the registration of employment in the private sector on the guarantee of the project, and for a period not exceeding the period of project implementation with the inability to transfer it during the work of the project, and the establishment of companies specialized in providing various domestic services and the family services system with legalizing the direct recruitment of domestic workers through citizens.

The report emphasized that all workers in the State of Kuwait came according to documented and official work contracts in cooperation between the labor exporting country and the host nation. The report emphasized that the law set a maximum limit for working hours and weekly rest times and stipulated that they be included in contracts, and the work contract must be in writing, and if it is documented, the contract is considered valid and the worker in this case may prove his right by all means, and the work wage may not be deducted.

During the validity of the contract, it is not permissible to implement deduction from the worker’s wage for a period exceeding five days per month, and obtaining an end-of-service certificate includes a statement of the period of his service, his work and the last wage the worker received.

With regard to child labor, the Labor Law No. 6 of 2010 in the private sector prohibits child labor, prohibits the employment of those under 15 years of age, and puts restrictions on the work of minors from the age of 15 to 18. It is not permissible to employ juveniles in industries and occupations that are hazardous or harmful to health or employing them for a period exceeding six hours a day.

The report stated that the Public Authority for Manpower, in cooperation with the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, has launched the diploma course for labor inspectors to train 210 male and female inspectors from 2019- 2023. The report indicated the Domestic Workers Law No. 68 of 2015 received praise from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, as it guaranteed the rights of the worker not to make any deductions on their salaries, and it also the employers to pay the worker’s food, clothing, medical expenses, boarding and lodging.

The number of domestic workers in Kuwait is approximately 710,000. PAM has received Manpower 2,485 complaints from domestic workers during 2019, 456 of which were amicably settled and 120 complaints were referred to the judiciary.

By Fares Al-Abdan Al-Seyassah Staff

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