KUWAIT: Kuwait will scrap the much-criticised sponsor system for foreign labour in February, becoming only the second Gulf country to abolish a practice that has been likened to slavery. Al-Rai newspaper quoted Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Mohammed Al-Afasi as saying that the "kafeel" system will be scrapped when a public authority for the recruitment of foreign workers is established in February. "This will be our gift to foreign workers on the anniversary of Kuwait's liberation," from seven mont
hs of Iraqi occupation in 1991, the minister said.

Undersecretary of the Ministry Ahmad Al-Kandari said yesterday the labor law does not mention the sponsor system at all. Speaking at a workshop organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour at the United Nations headquarters, Kandari said that the new amendments made to the labor law will address this issue. Undersecretary of Legal Affairs at the Ministry Jamal Al-Dossari asserted that the decision of the ministry was clear on the cancellation of the sponsorship system. Employees are now allowed to change jobs after three years of service without seeking the sponsor's permission and they will also be granted the right to transfer residence permits by committing to a contract.

Described by human rights bodies as akin to slavery, the sponsor system requires that all foreign workers must be sponsored by Kuwaiti employers, thus keeping them at the mercy of their bosses. Kuwait will become the second Gulf country to abolish the system after Bahrain, which decided in 2009 to end its longstanding requirement for all foreign workers to be sponsored by a citizen. Bahrain likened the sponsorship system to modern-day slavery.

The practice also has been slammed by international rights groups. Gulf countries employ armies of foreign workers to run their oil-fueled economies, doing everything from menial jobs to running companies. Kuwait, home to around 2.3 million expatriates, has in the past few years eased the sponsor system. In December, the National Assembly passed a new labour law that grants better rights and conditions, replacing a 45-year-old law that was criticised as being favourable to employers at the expense of worke
rs.

The legislation provides better annual leave, end of service indemnities and holidays. It also sets tougher penalties, including jail terms, for businessmen who trade in visas or who recruit expatriate workers and then fail to provide them with jobs, or who fail to pay salaries regularly. The bill also requires the government to introduce a minimum wage for certain jobs, especially in the lower-paid categories - Kuwait Times