Ministry Issues Citations Against Domestic Workers Recruitment Offices for Not Fulfilling Some Requests
KUWAIT CITY, June 30: Secretary of Kuwait Association for Domestic Workers Bureaus Ali Shamwah disclosed that Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued citations against offices that refused to fulfill the special request of some clients to bring in the relatives of their domestic workers, such as sisters or cousins, reports Al-Rai daily.
He pointed out that most of the offices do not honor such requests, because the domestic workers — once brought in remains under the sponsorship of the offices as long as they live in Kuwait, indicating the offices do not profit in any way from KD 390 deposited by the sponsor for that purpose.
Shamwah added the ministry issues citations against offices that refrain from providing such services and normally describes the violation as ‘refraining from selling’, which he stressed, is inappropriate especially as Kuwait is signatory to the Trafficking in Humans (TIP) Treaty. He called on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to address its inspectors about the correct way of issuing the citations. He stressed “it is up to the offices to accept or refuse such special orders since no authority has the right to oblige them to do anything against their will, provided that they remain committed to relevant laws of the sector”.
Concerning the current shortage of Filipino domestic workers, Al-Shamwah said the government of Philippines has set a new condition for the domestic workers recruitment offices willing to hire from the Philippines to pay security of $50,000 to guarantee the rights of those recruited in case they are forced to leave Kuwait before receiving their deserved wages. “This is happening despite the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Kuwait and Philippines to organize domestic labor affairs”, he said. He stated the condition set by Philippines government violates items of the memo signed between Kuwait and the Philippines.
He noted Kuwait Association for Domestic Workers Bureaus has since addressed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor on the issue, and called for urgent solution. Meanwhile, sources say the Kuwaiti-Philippines Joint Committee tasked to follow up execution of the items of the labor agreement will meet early July, reports Al-Qabas daily. They pointed out that the Kuwaiti side constituting representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, and Public Authority for Manpower will notify the Philippines authorities about the meeting soon. They reiterated Kuwait has been coordinating with India and Indonesia to sign contracts to import domestic labor
(Source: ArabTimesOnline.com)