Badly organized immigration subjects people to abuse: Jarallah

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah yesterday reiterated his country's respect for international commitments to human rights. Addressing a seminar on contract workers' rights co-organized by the Foreign Ministry and the UN Mission in Kuwait, Jarallah said Kuwait would continue its efforts to ensure the ensuing rights of these commitments, chiefly guaranteeing dignity. In this regard, he pointed out the efforts exerted by Kuwait over the last years to create a congenial atmosphere for contract workers in Kuwait so that they could positively contribute to the development process in the country, citing relevant laws and decrees.

Jarallah emphasized that badly organized immigration could deepen splits and divisions in societies and subject people to exploitation and abuse. Therefore, he maintained, Kuwait participated in the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration organized by the UN in the Moroccan city of Marakech in December 2018, which produced the Global Compact for Migration. He added that all Kuwaiti labor laws are a normal outcome of growth and development in the country, spurring workers to seek job opportunities in this oil-rich country. As the labor law aimed at making a fair balance between the interests of employees and employers, a new law, Law 6/2010, was adopted, the Kuwaiti official remarked. This piece of legislation reflected Kuwait's respect for all international commitments in the fields of human rights and International Labor Organization (ILO) agreements, Jarallah said.
Furthermore, Kuwait has established several labor agencies with a view to promoting and safeguarding the rights of contract workers and to offering all necessary facilities to them, he boasted. Foreign laborers and their families, who are over three million in number, enjoy all rights enshrined in national laws and favorably contribute to all sectors in the country, Jarallah noted. In this regard, he recalled to memory the UN General Assembly's decision adopted on September 4, 2000 designating December 18 as the International Migrants Day due to the increasing number of migrants worldwide.

The Kuwaiti deputy foreign minister cited Law 68/2015 regarding housekeepers as an example to follow owing to its multiple guarantees, mainly in relation to housekeepers and employers. The law included a center for female laborers, aiming at providing them with help, legal protection and health services and free-of-charge meals, Jarallah pointed out. The center, which can accommodate 500 women workers, has gained the praise and appreciation of international governmental and nongovernmental organizations and diplomatic missions in Kuwait, he said, adding that another center for male workers was in the offing. - KUNA