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In a groundbreaking article (and slideshow), newspaper powerhouse The New York Times, wrote a piece published yesterday on the labor situation in Kuwait, focusing on abuse of domestic female servents. The article also mentions that the US 2010 Department of State report put Kuwait, along with 12 other countries in low ranking for failing to do enough to prevent human trafficking. Furthermore, the article mentions the increased pressure that maids face during Ramadan, when they are expected to work longer hours.

KUWAIT — With nowhere else to go, dozens of Nepalese maids who fled from their employers now sleep on the floor in the lobby of their embassy here, next to the visitors’ chairs.

In the Philippines Embassy, more than 200 women are packed in a sweltering room, where they sleep on their luggage and pass the time singing along to Filipino crooners on television. So many runaways are sheltering in the Indonesian Embassy that some have left a packed basement and taken over a prayer room.

And in the coming weeks, when Ramadan starts, the number of maids seeking protection is expected to grow, perhaps by the hundreds, straining the capacity of the improvised shelters, embassy officials say. With Kuwaiti families staying up into the early hours of the morning, some maids say they cook more, work longer hours and sleep less.

Rosflor Armada, who is staying in the Philippines Embassy, said that last year during Ramadan, she cooked all day for the evening meal and was allowed to sleep only about two hours a night.

“They said, ‘You will work. You will work.’ ” She said that she left after her employers demanded that she wash the windows at 3 a.m.

The existence of the shelters reflects a hard reality here: With few legal protections against employers who choose not to pay servants, who push them too hard, or who abuse them, sometimes there is nothing left to do but run. The laws that do exist tend to err on the side of protecting employers, who often pay more than $2,000 upfront to hire the maids from the agencies that bring the women here.

Gulf states are seeking to buy people’s silence through state hand-outs while unskilled foreign workers are living in conditions “unacceptable to cats and dogs”, according to a leading Bahraini newspaper editor.

Dr Mansoor Al-Jamri, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bahrain’s daily Alwasat newspaper, drew loud applause at Qatar’s BBC televised Doha Debates with his comments.

He said: “The governments have a philosophy based on oil wealth, but instead of letting it trickle down to the people they use it to silence the elite or to by-pass their citizens.”

He added that in Bahrain the average salary in the private sector had dropped by 15 per cent in recent years and more than half the population had been waiting to be housed since 1992.

Speaking of the wretched housing which so many foreign workers from the Indian sub-continent endure in Gulf states, Al-Jamri said they had to live in conditions “that cats and dogs would not accept.”

He warned that if these workers, who make up the vast proportion of unskilled labour, continued to be treated like third class citizens, their inability to share in the decision-making process or have a right of domicile would ultimately lead to the intervention of international bodies in the affairs of Gulf states.

Al-Jamri was speaking at the latest Doha Debate, a unique public debating forum in the Middle East, whose 350-strong audience voted 75 per cent to 25 per cent in favour of a motion that “Gulf Arabs Value Profit over People.”

He told the mainly Arab audience attending the debate, to be broadcast on BBC World News on November 22-23, that token trade unions existed in Bahrain and Kuwait but that they were deprived of powers of collective bargaining and the protection of international labour organisations.

“I am always hearing in the media and from officials how this is not the right time for the participation of the people. They say: we will give you free education and free housing, but just shut up and don’t criticise.”

His colleague on the panel, Dr Najeeb Al-Nauimi, a former Qatari Justice Minister and later lead counsel defending Saddam Hussein in Iraq, condemned governments which summarily deport not just unskilled, foreign labour but teachers and sometimes doctors.

Al-Nauimi decried the lack of compassion towards a labour force which builds extravagant construction projects on meagre salaries with minimal social benefits.

“Oil prices and cheap labour are the basis of our economies,” which depend in turn “on the silence of our citizens,” he said.

Al-Nauimi warned that the Indian sub-continent was forging ahead by opening up its societies to a working, middle and upper class with rights. “We are (just) citizens of the Gulf and represent a marginal class, marginalised by the political process.” (for full article click here)

Are you for real Al-Watan Daily?! Embassies have very little authority in handling the issues of labor. First of all, recruitment is done in labourers' home countries, none of the recruitmet process has to do with the destination embassy. Secondly, Kuwaiti newspapers never have the "cojones" to use the word "blame" with any sort of Kuwaiti government institution when it comes to the pitiful labor record in this country. At the end of the day, this reputation is a reflection on the country's internal institutions and regulations. Embassies have nothing to do with that.

Abu Dhabi is planning to build three new cities to shelter foreign low-income laborers and workers of the construction industry. The plan to build enough houses to accommodate 400,00 people and are geared at single and double room occupancy.

The cities have been constructed according to the highest international standards, the director of facilities management at Abu Dhabi’s Higher Corporation for Specialised Economic Zones (ZonesCorp) told UAE daily Al Bayan.

The cities will be comprised of single and double rooms that will accommodate workers, technicians, supervisors and engineers working in the industrial and construction sectors in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Kuwait environment 'highly polluted'

KUWAIT TIMES POLL

Should the government scrap the sponsorship system?

Yes
87%
No
6%
Not right now
6%

The Al Watan Daily, Arab Times and Kuwait Times newspapers are reporting that Kuwait’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is making small moves towards the abolishment of the “kafeel” sponsorship system, beginning with allowing expatriot workers in the private sector to transfer their residencies without the approval of their sponsor.

This leniency is granted provided on the condition that the worker has been with the sponsor at least three years before transferring residency. The Minister, Dr, Mohammed AlـIfasi, spoke to reporters of Al Rai at a Kuwait Pearl Diving Ceremony and, as the Al-Watan Daily reports, also mentioned that the entire Department would also go under a drastic restructuring to facilitate reforms of the sponsorship and cut bureaucracy.

According to The Kuwait Times, Dr. Al-Ifasi was quoted as saying that, “they are being sold for certain sums of money as if we were living in the age of slavery.”

The Arab Times interviewed several leading politicians and academics about their opinions on the overhaul of Kuwait’s current sponsorship scheme. One of these, Dr Humaid Qanas, exercised caution in implementing proposals without a solid and well-researched understanding of the underlying problems, noting that similiar countries that have abolished the system only did so after many years of conducting studies before implementing policies.

“Stating that Kuwait is fond of putting attractive titles on such a vital issue, but there will be no traces of its functions at the end of the day, Qanas urged the government to assign specialists to study the proposal and put the final touches for its full implementation.

“The issue is similar to many other proposals like the housing, education and healthcare projects, which do not have clear plans or serious inclination for success. We should get it right this time, because the issue has dented Kuwait’s image in the international community,” the academician suggested.”

I am now serving as a guest contributer for the website Migrant Rights. Here is a recent post I wrote:

"The Kuwaiti Human Rights Society (KHRS) has urged the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) to act against companies that illegally force their workers to work under the sun during noon time, and to pass laws that would penalize the employers in question for doing so.

The KHRS issued a statement in which it said that members had witnessed a number of workers working during midday hours, when the summer temperatures in Kuwait can exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), reported Al-Qabas.

Forcing workers to work in these conditions breaks the country's labor laws, which permit the ministry to intervene to protect workers from such treatment, which could be severely damaging to their health, the society added." (click here for link)

The KHRS statement asserted that these companies' actions clearly demonstrated the company owners' and managers' lack of respect for helpless workers' human rights."

A system that is going to implode...once labor-exporting countries begin to demand better rights for their citizens and put a halt on migration, once rich countries put embargos and sanctions.

Dear Nancy, 

"The International Labor Organization (ILO) has renewed its criticism of Kuwait, especially with regard to its reluctance to resolve cases of human rights infringement. It has raised several questions that concern with alleged cases of abuse suffered by expatriate workers and housemaids. The organization also questioned the Cabinet's decision to pass a law that bans public gatherings, stating that such actions violate international treaties and interrupt the democratic process. The ILO also highlighted Kuwait's lackadaisical attitude with regard resolving the bedoon issue.

In response to the ILO's queries, the Ministries of Labor and Interior will compile a report that addresses each issue and the corrective measures taken, reported Al-Qabas. The Labor Ministry has also compiled a report that will be delivered at an international convention that will be held in Geneva next week. The Ministry of Interior has already addressed issues pertaining to expat laborers by listing out the procedures taken to secure their rights according to international treaties. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has promised to submit its findings to the Labor Ministry shortly." (for direct link, click here)

Pessimistic outlook on the idea of norm-spread resulting from Bahrain's big move.  In sum, the article seems to put out a trade-off between reform for a more humane labor rights law towards foreigners and job security for nationals.  However, like any bandage that must be removed, it is better to rip it off quickly than to hold it off.  Everyone knows the national work ethic is completely unsustainable.  One day, the current benefit system for nationals, if still dependent on oil revenues, will no longer insist.  This will eventually lead oil-rich societies in the Gulf to adapt their societies accordingly.  This is going to most likely have to happen sooner than later, and I really feel the end of an era will be approached quite soon.