Kuwait is committed to complying with all the relevant international standards on protecting expatriate workers' rights, said a Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) official yesterday. During a meeting with a delegation of Norwegian officials visiting the country, MSAL Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs Jamal Al-Dousari said that Kuwait's new labor laws ensure, amongst other things, that expatriate workers are accorded their full rights at their workplaces, and are granted full leg
al recourse to resolve any grievances they might have.

Among the rights expatriate workers are accorded is the right to move to a new job with another employer without the worker needing to obtain permission from his or her original sponsor, explained Al-Dousari, adding that expatriate workers who have been working for the same sponsor for three years or more can also change their residency status without having to first obtain the sponsor's approval. The new labor laws have resolved a great many of the previous problems seen by the MSAL's labor department bet
ween expatriate workers and their sponsors, said the official.

Al-Dousari also touched on the subject of widespread complaints of abuse of expatriate workers by sponsors, stressing that abusive sponsors are dealt with in compliance with the terms set out in the new legislation and with international law. The ministry official also told the Norwegian delegates that bedoon (stateless) residents of Kuwait are not deprived of the right to work but are required to legalize their residential status, stressing that Kuwait is well on the way to conclusively resolving its prob
lems with members of this group.

On organizing the country's workforce and ensuring that workers' rights are upheld in all cases and circumstances, Al-Dousari explained that Kuwait is set to establish an independent public authority for labor which will be tasked with ensuring that the rights of all workers, domestic and foreign, are protected. The establishment of the authority will ensure that it can implement all the country's labor laws without interference from other government agencies.

Amongst the Norwegian delegates at the meeting was Eric Christian, the First Secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Kuwait, who voiced appreciation on behalf of the delegation of Al-Dousari's comments on Kuwait's commitment to observing international human rights standards and norms in its new labor legislation. - KUNA