UAE announces new steps to protect rights of foreign workers
14 Nov, 2007, 1727 hrs IST, PTI
DUBAI: In a move aimed at protecting rights of foreigners working as domestic helps, including Indians, the UAE has announced that it would draft a law on par with international standards to safeguard their interests.
"Government decreed the drafting of a law later last month to protect the rights of domestic helps like other workers under UAE Labour Law. First of its kind, the law will follow local and international standards to safeguard their interest," Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs said.
"We recognise that the protection of domestic workers is the top priority for the government and are committed towards it," he told the Emirates News Agency.
His comments came in the wake of a report published by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which claimed that domestic helps face forced labour and sexual harassment in Gulf countries. The research was conducted in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon and UAE.
The minster stressed that they are committed to "protect the rights of labourers and curb abuses against them."
Criticising the survey conducted by HRW, Gargesh said they are disappointed by the quality of the research.
The findings are based on interviews with Sri Lankan women workers who work across the Middle East, he said.
I believe that all great achievements and success in life, and all changes for the better, have one powerful characteristic in common: The First Step. Take the first step, and the journey has a way of taking care of itself.”
Let the words turn in to actions..
ReplyDeleteSomething that's nagging at me... (I should be sleeping now!)
ReplyDeleteI raise this point because in some sense you have a double-edged sword in the labor/exploitation "game" in the UAE. Sure, you have the companies that are up to no good, lining their coffers at the expense of cheap labor. But at the same time you seem to have a country full of would-be-immigrants who have little regard for what is legal and their first (and probably only) thought is who do I have to pay and how much.
Any comments. I really want to hear others' perspectives.