US envoy counsels Kuwait;

‘Treat expat labour fairly’

Arab Times, Wednesday, May 10, 2006

KUWAIT CITY (AFP): The US ambassador to Kuwait urged the host country on Tuesday to respect the basic rights of two million foreign labourers living here and to treat them with fairness. “All workers, Kuwaiti and expatriate, both in the formal sectors of the economy and in households, need to be treated with fairness,” Richard LeBaron told a symposium. “International commitments need to be accompanied by readily enforceable protections for all who labour in Kuwait, including domestic employees. “Let me be clear: I am not talking about special rights, I am referring to basic rights — to be paid an agreed wage on time, to control one’s passport, to have some means of effective recourse in disputes and to have shelter available when needed,” LeBaron said.

Last year, thousands of Asian workers staged demonstrations against non-payment of salary on time. In one such protest, about 1,000 Bangladeshi cleaners stormed their embassy, causing massive damage. There have also been reports of large cases of abuse against those working in households. The issue of labour rights is also relevant to other Arab states in the Gulf with millions of migrant workers mainly from Asia. A Qatari rights group warned a week ago about the less-than-human working conditions of the expatriate labour force in the gas-rich country. And the United Arab countrys has been urged by international rights groups to reform its labour laws to grant more rights to foreign workers following violent riots on two building sites in booming Dubai over the past two months.