Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 20:03:40 -0500
From: Michael Novick <mnovickttt-AT-pop.igc.apc.org>
Subject: AUT: FOREIGN WORKERS in Gulf CAN CLAIM labor law PROTection


FOREIGN WORKERS CAN CLAIM PROTECTION UNDER LABOR LAWS
>
>     ABU DHABI, Jul. 1 (IPS) -- Foreign domestic and unskilled
>  workers in the Gulf Arab states could take their employers to court
>  if they were brought under local labor laws, say labor officials
>  here.
>  
>     They point out that Gulf labor laws guarantee the full rights of
>  all workers, and allow them to seek help from the courts if they
>  have grievances, such as non-payment of wages or ill treatment,
>  against their employers.
>  
>     Asian missions in the region are sometimes besieged by their
>  nationals seeking redress of grievances, including harassment and
>  violations of job contracts. The Gulf region has a huge expatriate
>  population, the majority unskilled and from poor Asian countries.
>  
>     Problems arise, according to some Asian diplomats, because
>  employment contracts of these workers fall under the jurisdiction
>  of the residency departments in the Gulf states, and hence local
>  labor laws do not apply to them. As a result, housemaids and other
>  domestic helpers have no way of claiming their rights.
>  
>     "If they even lodge a complaint with the residency departments,
>  they will find it very difficult to prove their claims," says one
>  Asian diplomat. Neither can they ask for help from the employment
>  agents that recruited them, because the agents give no guarantees
>  when they arrange jobs and passage.
>  
>     As a result, most housemaids and unskilled workers, particularly
>  in the booming construction industry, either suffer in silence or
>  wait till their employers decide to cancel their residence visas
>  and send them home. Others, who have borrowed money or sold
>  property to come to the Gulf, run away to work for other employers
>  or seek help from their embassies.
>  
>     The Gulf Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab
>  Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman -- are a lucrative job market
>  for the developing countries of Asia. The bulk of domestic workers
>  in the region are from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, and
>  Indonesia, and often tied to a single employer.
>  
>     In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), new residency laws have
>  eliminated the market for part-time housemaids, who lived on their
>  own. Now housemaids have to stay in the homes of sponsors, and the
>  employer also faces stiff fines if caught flouting the tough rules.
>  
>     Asian countries have for a while been counselling their
>  nationals on rules and the ways of the Gulf states. However,
>  diplomats here are the first to acknowledge that these
>  precautionary measures are not enough.
>  
>     "The best solution is to treat housemaids and domestic helpers
>  like other workers and apply the UAE labor law to their  employment
>  contracts," says a UAE official.
>  
>     Local recruitment agencies acknowledge that domestic workers are
>  probably the most vulnerable to exploitation in Gulf countries
>  because there are no laws for their protection. Abuse of domestic
>  workers has become a chronic problem in recent years.
>  
>     At least 75 percent of housemaids, particularly those from the
>  Philippines, who knock on the doors of their embassies for help say
>  they have been ill-treated by employers.
>  
>     Typically, Gulf nationals are not sympathetic and complain that
>  most of the allegations are fabricated or exaggerated by maids to
>  get out of contracts or to go home because of loneliness or
>  inability to cope with the job.
>  
>     Captain Hassan Ahmed Al-Khayyal from the UAE police claims there
>  has been a sharp reduction recently in the number of crimes and
>  violations committed by labor recruitment agencies since the
>  implementation of the new labor laws.
>  
>     "The reduction rate, which reached two thirds of the usually
>  reported crimes, (demonstrates) the effectiveness of the
>  implementation of the new UAE labor and immigration rules," he
>  says.
>  
>     Diplomats and some Gulf officials say many of the problema arise
>  because a large number of workers enter the region illegally,
>  buying visas for huge sums of money which they have to pay back,
>  leaving them unable to pay their fare back home.
>  
>     As a result, they settle for low salaries, sometimes as little
>  as $100 a month, and accept even the most difficult job conditions.
>  
>     The flood of cheap labor is posing problems for authorities in
>  the Gulf, who are trying to coax their nationals to work for a
>  living. The oil rich region has pampered its people with cradle-to-
>  grave welfare, but with revenues from oil falling, many of the
>  governments are confronted with huge deficits.
>  
>     Gulf authorities frequently issue appeals urging nationals to
>  wean themselves off their dependence on foreign workers.  Domestic
>  workers in particular are seen as a reason for the rise of petty
>  crime in the region, where family ties and the controls of Islam
>  are believed to be slackening.
>  
>     "Excessive dependence on housemaids, particularly non-Arab
>  housemaids and drivers, endangers the traditional characteristics
>  of the Gulf family," says Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police Major
>  General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim.
>  
>  (Copyright 1997)
>  
>                     
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