KUWAIT: The Kuwait Center for Expatriate's Rights (KCER) announced Sunday evening that it will pursue the issue of mistreatment of expatriate laborers and employees in Kuwait until justice is served. In a seminar that took place on the premises of the Umbrella for Kuwaiti Action in Shuhada, KCER hosted distinguished speakers including lawyers, lawmakers and political scholars. During the event, Kuwait University professor of political science, Dr Ghanem Al-Najjar said that the Kuwaiti public is facing a la
rge dilemma today because of its negligence to the issue of human rights. "We are in a position that requires us to act wisely," he said.

The government has not taken any action regarding the issue of domestic staff rights. Today, no law protects these people who account for thousands of members of our society.

Al-Najjar added that Kuwait does not earn its respect in the international community by being a rich, oil-producing country, but rather by respecting international laws and regulations.

During the 1990 invasion, Kuwait was aided by the coalition forces because it abided by the international laws and because it is a democracy. Our position in the international community is important, and as long as we have people living in Kuwait with no rights then we are not respected," said Al-Najjar. He added that the government should punish those responsible for the dilemma of human trade in Kuwait, and give the victims of this mistreatment their rights.

Lawyer and human rights activist, Obaid Al-Wasmi noted the importance of establishing a human rights court that ensures looking into cases from a humanitarian view. "We in Kuwait have sadly reached a point where we cease to look at people. Now, we focus on their passports rather than the fact that they are human," he noted.

Al-Wasmi called for the formation of a national project to raise awareness and educate people about the importance of respecting the rules and laws. "A law that is not put into practice is useless. If we make laws and don't make them part and parcel of our culture, then we haven't made a difference," said Al-Wasmi.

Lawmakers Ali Al-Daqbasi and Waleed Al-Tabtabaei were also present at the event. They said that there are quite a lot of hurdles facing Kuwait nowadays and its international image is one of the most important issues to deal with nowadays.

The sad reality is that the government has been neglecting the issue of human rights, and is paying little attention to it now that the issue has tainted the image of Kuwait among the international community," noted Al-Tabtabaei. He added that the recent deportation of 17 Egyptian expats from Kuwait after they held a demonstration showing their support to presidential candidate Mohammad ElBaradei was unfair and brought shame to the image of Kuwait.

MP Al-Daqbasi stressed the role of foreign labor in order to accomplish the government's goal in its development action plan. "We promise to work hard on resolving this issue and bring justice to the communities living inside Kuwait. These people have left their homes to come here and make a meager amount of money. Some business owners who have no fear of God, no morals or ethics mistreat them, refuse to pay them on time and overload them with work and exhausting chores. It is shameful," he lamented. - Kuwait Times