New Minimum Wage for Kuwait's Expat Workers Paves the Way for Domestic Worker Reforms

Despite the inaction seen in Bahrain to institute a universal minimum wage for workers outside of the public sector, progressive measures are being taken by neighboring Kuwait to implement upgrades to its newly approved labor law.

The Trade Arabia News Source released an article recently that revealed the approval of a minimum wage for expatriate workers of approximately 207 USD per month. Although the salary is relatively small, this is a major milestone across the GCC countries, and especially within Kuwait; a country that has traditionally neglected the establishment of legal safeguards to protect its foreign population from exploitation and coercion by Kuwaiti citizens.

Kuwait's new labor law was approved earlier this year, and until that time, had not been reformed in over forty years.

Although a minimum wage is certain to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Kuwait's foreign workers, domestic workers are currently excluded from the new labor law.

The article also focused on promulgating legislation that would enforce a new minimum wage for Kuwait's estimated 600,000 domestic workers, employed as maids, drivers, gardeners and security guards. A proposed salary of 45 Kuwaiti Dinars (approximately 154 USD) is one of several reforms that will be included in the draft domestic worker law, along with amendments to enforce working hours, payment of wages and protection from abuse.

Such legislation would vastly improve the lives of domestic workers who are often forced to work 16-hour days. If the current draft law is approved by parliament, working hours for domestic workers would be limited to eight per day, employers would no longer be allowed to withhold passports, and workers would be allowed one day off per week and time-off during national holidays.

Skeptics still question the extent to which the government would be able to enforce the new law given the high sensitivity associated with domestic issues (within private homes) and how they should be regulated by the Ministry of Social Development (responsible for regulating all other foreign workers). For example, the new law would impose fines on employers who fail to pay their domestic workers, but there are no mechanisms in place to enforce or prove that a violation has been committed. Since most sponsors do not allow their domestic workers to contact their embassies or law enforcement agents, most cases go unreported.

Bahrain's Reliance on Cheap Labor Justifies Inaction on Minimum Wage Implementation

In a rather unsurprising development that touched the English-speaking media of Bahrain, a senior representative of the Bahraini Government stated publicly that the implementation of a minimum wage for expatriate workers would directly harm the island Kingdom's economy and limit regional competitiveness. In his remarks to a human rights commission, the legal advisor for Bahrain's Ministry of Labor further commented that the implementation of a minimum wage will make businessmen reluctant to invest in Bahrain if it lacks the advantage of cheap labor.

Thankfully, a human rights activist responded by slamming the government's decision, rejecting government claims that a minimum wage would hurt the national economy, or that it was ample grounds to revoke the rights of laborers or infringe upon their human rights.

This is one, of several examples that trace back to a source of inaction by the Bahraini government to acknowledge the abuses of its migrant workers, who currently amount to over 50% of the country's overall population. A disconnect continues to prevail, wherein the Bahraini government fails to grant or even recognize fundamental rights that should be awarded to expatriate workers regardless of their nationality. It is unjust, and inhumane to recruit workers from abroad, to promise them wages, and then to either withhold or garnish those wages without any legal protections under a competent and capable government.

The average migrant worker makes under 80 Bahraini Dinars a month, a pitiful and nearly unlivable salary that forces many into dilapidated housing and enhanced exposure to disease and long-term health risks, due to limited caloric intake. Champions for this minimum wage are not even asking for more than this amount, they are just pushing for a system that will force companies to pay workers what they deserve in their contracts

This perpetual inaction certainly does not stop with the expatriate community living in Bahrain, national citizens themselves continue to fight for a legal minimum wage as well. Only recently did the government approve a minimum wage for government employees-how convenient. Cheap labor competition is the endemic response to local cries for employment for young Bahrainis seeking jobs but demanding higher salaries than their expatriate counterparts. The majority of the working class still lacks the same safeguards one would expect in a country that boasts a business friendly, economically diversified, and liberal working environment to the outside world. But it is becoming all too evident, and reaffirmed by the powers that be, that this facade can only be sustained by cheap labor. It would be more responsible of the Ministry of Labor to formulate solutions to its alleged economic precariousness, which apparently will be destabilized with the implementation of responsible and stimulating safeguards that improve the economic viability of life of the working class, rather than relying on a system that continues to subjugate, demoralize, and muster resentment for tens if not hundreds of thousands of Bahrain's residents.

This same representative also added that the Ministry of Labor had no intention of bringing Bahrain's 27,000 domestic workers under the new Labor Law, but that they would receive protection and be subjected to several rules and provisions that would ensure that their basic rights are safeguarded. HOW? It continues to baffle me how government representatives can continue to release formal statements that lack any evidentiary support. If domestic workers continue to remain outside of the jurisdiction of a labor law, there are no mechanisms in place that can shield them from: abuse, trafficking, withheld salaries or documentation, and exploitation. We need to see more tangible results or proposed ACTION following comments like these.

You have to give credit to those who can release public statements that clearly perpetuate a flawed system that is negatively impacting so many peoples' lives and lacks any attempts to correct those injustices.

HRW Commends Bahrain's Sponsorship Reforms but Highlights Shortcomings for Domestic Workers

To elaborate further on an early post found in this blog, Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a report highlighting the slow reforms that are taking place in the labor sectors of several source and destination countries for human trafficking, including Bahrain. Despite several shortcomings in the country, Bahrain was commended for its unprecedented reforms to the Kafala Sponsorship System, which for the first time in the region, awards migrant workers the rights to switch sponsors without consent, and in the absence of unpaid wages, or allegations of abuse.

Bahrain's Minister of Labor has justified Bahrain's interest in reform by linking the sponsorship system with modern-day slavery.

Although the new system of sponsorship still offers loopholes for coercion by exploitive employers, it offers a jumping-off point for further development in the future.

HRW plans to forward recommendations directly to the Bahraini Government to address its inaction on domestic worker issues, and notes that all of the governments in this particular report fell short of providing minimum protections to prevent abuse of domestic workers. The report addressed shortcomings pertaining to domestic workers' lack of protection under national labor laws, regulation of immigration and monitoring of recruitment agency absconding, effective responses by police and courts following allegations of physical or sexual abuse, and involvement by civil society actors and labor unions.

Other key recommendations encouraged regional governments to award domestic workers the rights to freedom of association to highlight common grievances and offer a forum for improvements, as well as, approval for legal status of migrant and domestic workers involved in court proceedings. Currently, domestic workers who present allegations of abuse to police undertake an illegal immigration status by default, deterring many from reporting crimes committed against them and resulting in immediate deportation.

Finally, Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministries were encouraged to provide increased services for survivors of abuse, to establish better parameters for identifying cases of human trafficking from forced domestic servitude, and to prevent, investigate, and prosecute criminal violence against domestic workers.

Human Rights Report Paints a Bleak Picture of Migrant and Domestic Worker Rights in Kuwait

The Kuwait Times printed a front page article highlighting that advancements in the country's human rights agenda are still far from adequate following the release of a systematic report by a local "human rights watchdog." Amongst other critical issues, the Kuwait Society for Human Rights (KSHR) provided an assessment on the human rights issues Kuwait faces regarding domestic workers and expatriates vis a vis a newly reformed labor law.

The report, which showcased analyses on migrant workers, domestic workers, Kuwait's bedoon (stateless Arab) population, and freedoms in the media and within parliament, devoted a sizable portion of its findings to the violations committed against Kuwait's substantial migrant worker population.

The article reports that the KSHR revealed that efforts from within Kuwaiti society along with input from local NGO's were unsuccessful in ameliorating the Kafeela sponsorship system and that several expat labor groups, including cleaners, security guards, and power meter readers are still struggling to obtain unpaid salaries guaranteed in their employment contracts. Within the report, the KSHR notes that it has received several worker complaints against employers demanding unpaid wages that in some cases, exceeded a period of over nine months and indicate continued violations of migrant worker rights in the country.

The report further asserts that the Ministry of Social Development (responsible for regulating Kuwait's foreign labor population) has failed to implement proper mechanisms to ensure that employers are fulfilling their obligations towards their workers and to penalize violating employers to avert damage to the country's image.

Domestic worker issues were also raised. The report underscored the lack of legal protections Kuwait's estimated 600,000 domestic workers face and that the problem is only going to worsen given the country's increasing demand for housemaids. The report stated that it is the responsibility of the government to implement safeguards to preserve domestic worker rights, maintain the employers compliance to fulfill these rights, and prevent further violations and human trafficking.

With regards to Kuwait's new labor law, the report championed the Kuwaiti government's long overdue amendments to incorporate greater legal protection for expatriate workers in the country but also demonstrated concern over the absence of a minimum wage clause and the entire exclusion of domestic workers from its jurisdiction. The report urged parliamentarians to pass the Domestic Helpers Bill set to travel through the legal channels later this year and to push for more services for housemaids-like shelters for runaways.

Saudi Arabia's Rahma Campaign Encourages Mercy Towards Foreign Workers

In a slightly older article I recently came across, the BBC highlights the plight of domestic workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the innovative methods the government is taking to raise awareness of the common abuses its estimated 1.5 million domestic workers face. According to Human Rights Watch, domestic workers are often treated like slaves under a legal system that does not allot any protections to migrant workers from their violent, coercive or exploitive sponsors.

The Rahma (Mercy) Campaign highlighting these injustices is aired on state-owned satellite television channels and national newspapers in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat. Print versions depict a maid with a dog collar around her neck sitting in a kennel, and a foreign chauffeur harnessed like a horse with a Saudi woman holding the reins.

In the video campaign (below), a Saudi man is seen shouting at his foreign maid for not ironing his clothes properly. Another scene shows him shouting racial slurs from his car at an Asian worker. 2 additional commercials have been aired to date and are also included in the following clip.



At the end of the first clip, the words appear, "Man la yarham, la yurham (He who shows no mercy, will receive no mercy [from God])," automatically equating inhumane treatment of other humans as a crime under Islam. Similar moralistic quotes pertaining to Islam conclude the other clips as well.

To quote the Director-General of the Saudi Advertising Agency, and supporter of the campaign, "we [Saudi Arabians] are obliged to treat them [helpers] well. Why ask them to do things that we can't bear ourselves? If we have mercy on them, then Allah will have mercy on us."

Many local media-outlets refused to endorse the campaign saying that it would be too shocking and that it makes Saudi Arabians look cruel and heartless.

Saudi Arabia opens its doors to some of the highest numbers of expatriate workers in the region but arguably offers the least safeguards to shield them from abuse, specifically regarding rights of movement, withholding of documentation, legal reprise against abusive sponsors, and protection from gender-based violence committed against housemaids and other female domestic workers.

Partial Reforms Fail Migrant Domestic Workers Human Rights Watch Reports

PRESS RELEASE from Human Rights Watch:

(New York) - The reforms undertaken by Middle Eastern and Asian governments fall far short of the minimum protections needed to tackle abuses against migrant domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said today in a report released in advance of May 1, International Labor Day. Despite recent improvements, millions of Asian and African women workers remain at high risk of exploitation and violence, with little hope of redress, Human Rights Watch said.

The 26-Page Report, "Slow Reform: Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East," reviews conditions in eight countries with large numbers of migrant domestic workers: Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Singapore, and Malaysia. The report surveys progress in extending protection to domestic workers under labor laws, reforming immigration "sponsorship" systems that contribute to abuse, ensuring effective response by police and courts to physical and sexual violence, and allowing civil society and trade unions to organize.

"Several governments have made concrete improvements for migrant domestic workers in the past five years, but in general, reforms have been slow, incremental, and hard-fought," said Nisha Varia, women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Jordan deserves credit for including domestic work in their labor law, but enforcement remains a big concern. Singapore has prosecuted physical abuse against domestic workers vigorously, but fails to guarantee them even one day off a week."

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore and 200,000 in Lebanon to approximately 660,000 in Kuwait and 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia. Migrant domestic work is an important source of employment for women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, India, and Ethiopia. Migrant domestic workers' earnings constitute a significant proportion of the billions of dollars of remittances sent to these countries each year.

Human Rights Watch research over the past five years has shown that migrant domestic workers risk a range of abuses. Common complaints include unpaid wages, excessive working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees. Isolation in private homes and forced confinement in the workplace contribute to psychological, physical, and sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking.

"Reforms often encounter stiff resistance both from employers used to having a domestic worker on call around the clock and labor brokers profiting handsomely off a poorly regulated system," Varia said. "Governments should make protecting these vulnerable workers a priority."

Most governments exclude domestic workers from their main labor laws, denying them protections guaranteed to other workers, such as limits to hours of work or a weekly day of rest. Only Jordan has amended its labor law to include domestic workers, guaranteeing protections such as monthly payment of salaries into a bank account, a weekly day off, paid annual and sick leave, and a maximum 10-hour workday. However, domestic workers cannot leave the workplace without permission from their employer.

The governments of Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia have all publicly announced they will amend existing labor laws or draft new legislation on domestic work. But despite years of proposals, none have adopted such reforms. Saudi Arabia's Shura Council approved an annex on domestic work to the labor law, but the cabinet has not yet approved it. Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has repeatedly rejected calls to extend labor law protections to domestic workers.

"Instead of ensuring protection under labor laws, governments have relied on creating standard employment contracts or bilateral agreements with labor-sending countries, Varia said. "Employment contracts and bilateral agreements may be better than nothing, but with weaker protections than labor laws, they effectively reinforce discrimination against domestic workers."

Immigration reforms have proceeded even more slowly than labor reforms, Human Rights Watch said. In the countries surveyed, domestic workers migrate on fixed-term visas, under which their employers double as their immigration sponsors. This system heightens the risk of abuse by giving inordinate control to employers, who can have domestic workers sent home at will or prohibit them from being hired by a new employer.

"Governments have dragged their feet on reforms to the immigration sponsorship system, which contributes to forced labor and trafficking," Varia said. "They need to move quickly to find alternatives, such as shifting sponsorship from employers to labor authorities or closely monitored employment agencies."

Human Rights Watch also examined the governments' responses to criminal abuses against domestic workers. Some governments have begun to investigate and successfully prosecute abuse against domestic workers, but numerous obstacles continue to stand in the way of such victories, Human Rights Watch found. For example, systems for filing complaints are often out of reach of domestic workers trapped in private homes and unable to speak the local language.

For cases that do reach the attention of the authorities, legal proceedings often stretch over years, while victims typically wait in overcrowded shelters, unable to work. The lengthy waits and uncertain outcomes cause many domestic workers to withdraw their complaints or negotiate financial settlements so they can return home quickly. In other cases, domestic workers who bring charges are forced to defend themselves against counter-allegations of theft, witchcraft, and adultery.

"Successful prosecutions of abusive employers and labor brokers is not only justice served but also a strong deterrent against abuse," Varia said. Governments should establish accessible ways to file complaints, expedite legal proceedings, and ensure a minimum standard of social services, such as shelter and health care, during the process."

Reforms on regulating domestic work are taking place not only at the national level, but globally. In recognition of the importance of protecting a major source of employment that has been historically neglected, members of the International Labor Organization will begin formal discussions in June to establish global labor standards for domestic work. Lebanon, Bahrain, and Jordan support legally binding standards, while Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates support a nonbinding recommendation. Singapore and Kuwait did not submit official responses.

Human Rights Watch urged governments to take the following steps to prevent and respond to abuses against migrant domestic workers:

-Extend equal labor protections in national law to domestic workers, and address unique circumstances relating to their intermittent working hours, lodging, and board;
-Improve regulation and oversight of employment agencies and fees charged to these workers by private recruitment agencies;
-Reform immigration policies so that workers' visas are not tied to individual sponsors, and so that they can change employers without the first employer's consent;
-Improve workers' access to the criminal justice system, including through confidential complaint mechanisms, prosecutions, and expansion of victim services;
-Cooperate with labor-sending countries to monitor transnational recruitment, respond to complaints of abuse, and facilitate repatriation;
-Support a binding convention on domestic work with an accompanying recommendation during the International Labour Conference in June.