KUWAIT: Visa traffickers in Kuwait make around KD 250 million ($860 million) annually, a human rights consultant said. The alarming figure is part of an international trade that generates $60 billion annually.

This is sad and disgusting and should be stopped," Dr Nasser Al-Masri, told a seminar on "Human Trafficking", held recently in Kuwait City by the Kuwait Center for Expatriate Rights, an affiliate of the Kuwait Umbrella Action (KUA). Dr. Al-Masri urged Kuwaitis to help put an end to the trafficking trade and human rights abuses of expatriates, saying that five decades ago Kuwait faced terrible times and as people were dying of hunger, thirst and disease, many Kuwaitis sought employment in India and other c
ountries.

Kuwaitis should recall such hard times and respect the rights of other people, he said. MP Walid Al-Tabtabae told the participants in the conference that there is a need to establish an independent public authority for human rights and to introduce a bill criminalizing human trafficking, in order to protect the rights of domestic workers in Kuwait.

The lawmaker said that a proposal by Dr Obaid Al-Wasmi, a Kuwait University legal expert, to establish a criminal court for human rights should be supported. "The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee is currently studying a bill proposed by MP Saleh Ashour to protect the rights of about 700,000 domestic workers," he said.

Domestic helpers are not included in a recently enacted labor law that, while failing to fully abolish the controversial sponsorship law, has given employees more rights and better working conditions. Lawmakers argued that difficulties to inspect the homes where the helpers work make it impossible for labor inspectors to check or monitor their work conditions.

Last month, labor and social development minister pledged to continue a strong move to fight trafficking in visas and abuses of expatriate workers by unscrupulous companies and individuals.

Mohammad Al-Afasi who is heading a campaign to give foreign laborers more rights and eliminate abuses by visa traffickers said that he would not be intimidated by people benefiting from the presence of marginalized laborers and bogus companies. More than 1.2 million foreigners have jobs in Kuwait and, with their families, make up around 2.2 million of a total population of 3.3 million. -Agencies