KUWAIT: A number of representatives from local and international organization praised the National Assembly (NA) and the government for cooperating and passing the new labor law. However, the law received criticism for a number of reasons including the lack of coverage for domestic laborers in the bill and not including any kind of specification for minimum wages. The piece of legislation came after a long debate between business owners and union workers. They collaborate to address the international reports accusing Kuwait's legislation of facilitating human trafficking and forced labor.

The Secretary for the Kuwaiti Center of Expatriate's Rights (KCER), Umar Al-Utaibi, said in a statement to the Kuwait Times that the law contains "a number of incompatibilities." He highlighted such issues as not specifying minimum wages, not cancelling the sponsor system, not guarantying a laborer's right to seek legal action without needing to apply through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and lacking any sort of coverage for domestic laborers.

However," Al-Utaibi says, "passing the law in the second reading and considering a number of notes given in this regard is a step forward and could revitalize the labor market and encourage prosperity.

The Kuwaiti government has been consulting International Labor Organization (ILO) experts about the best way to replace the sponsor system. Potentially a government authority could be established to take over the sponsoring responsibility and legal status of foreign laborers in Kuwait from Kuwaiti citizens.

The representative of the ILO in Kuwait, Thabet Al-Haroon, said that the Immigration Department in the Ministry of Interior proposed a project to establish a government owned company to be responsible for the residency of expat workers in the country.

There is a tendency in the government to make this company non-profit oriented," said Al-Haroon. He added that the passed law still needs to be strengthened by other legislations. "In addition to the fact that it does not show clear coverage for house laborers, the law does not define the word child. This is important in dealing with child labor, even though we all know Kuwait is not suffering from this kind of problem now.

Al-Haroon also noted that there is a tendency in the Kuwaiti government to seriously tackle the issue of 'human trading,' which is widely referred to in Kuwait as 'visa trading.' "Nonetheless, the new labor law, once implemented, is going to eradicate human trading by 75 percent," Al-Haroon concluded. The new law gives the authority of executing the law to the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor. He is expected to create a completely implementable and comprehensive law within six months. - Kuwait Times