Remembering HH Sheikh Jaber

Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah’s

commitment to human rights

The following is an excerpt from His Highness' statement presented before the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations on September 5th 2000.

“now at the level of the human person, we must reaffirm our commitment to the rejection of any form of human slavery or denial of human rights irrespective of the excuses or circumstances cited to justify that by any political system or regime, even if that violation was committed by the government in that individual's own homeland.”

Enslaved Chinese workers

What kind of support can you expect when your own country has a worse human rights record than Kuwait’s?

According to the following article, Chinese workers were protesting in front of their embassy because their employer hasn’t paid their salary for the past eight months and wanted to submit a complaint against the company.

A representative from the said company arrived and told the securitymen these workers had a contract with the company which states “the company will not pay their salary for two years.” Can you believe this? I have never heard of anyone working for two years without receiving a weekly or monthly salary. This is the first time I hear of such term on a contract. Who would willingly agree to such terms? Also, ‘As per the contract’, salaries of the workers are supposed to be sent to their relatives in their home country. “This is to ensure the laborers do not ‘waste’ their money on vices like gambling and drinking” he added. Which law allows an employer to decide how an employee will or will not spend his money on? It sounds like one of the silly excuses used by many sponsors to retain their employee’s passport even though it is illegal to do so.
Besides what was published, I know absolutely nothing about this particular issue. The one thing I know for sure about these people is they came here to earn a living for their family and if I understand this correctly, it is not happening at all. Apparently, these workers have been working for eight months and their family hasn’t received a single fils yet and, based on the ‘2 years without pay’ term, they won’t receive anything until May 2007 if they receive anything at all. How is their family supposed to survive? How come, the Ministry of Social Affairs and labor isn’t enforcing the deposit of their monthly salary according to the labor law? Is the employer / sponsor above the law like many others who are allowed to violate the labor law? As for the Labor Consul of the Chinese embassy, why didn't he take their complaint instead of just requesting the workers to go back to work and follow the set regulations?
Based on many other cases of abused Chinese workers I heard of (beating, black mail, extortion, false promissory notes, unpaid wages, no medical care) and their far worse than Kuwait’s human rights record, one should not expect much help from the Chinese embassy. On the other hand, Kuwait has been making so many promises about protecting laborers’ rights. Now would be the right time to turn those too often broken promises into actions.

Chinese workers protest over 'pay'
Arab Times, Sunday, January 15, 2006

By Mansour AI-Sultan, Special to the Arab Times

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 14: Over a hundred Chinese laborers, who had not been paid for nearly eight months, shouted slogans opposite their embassy Saturday and requested a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, say sources.
The workers, who wished to submit to the ambassador a complaint against the company where they are employed, said they "had not received their salaries for the past eight months."
Capital securitymen arrived at the scene and spoke with the protesting workers urging them to "calm down and follow procedures," confirm the sources. The laborers, however, kept insisting on their "embassy's intervention to secure their financial rights," they add.
A twist in the tale occurred with the arrival of a representative from the said company. He informed securitymen the workers had a contract with the company which states "the company will not pay their salaries for two years."
As per the contract, salaries of the workers are to be sent to their relatives in their home country, explained the representative. This is to ensure the laborers do not "waste" their money on vices like gambling and drinking, he added.
Labor Consul of the Chinese embassy, meanwhile, arrived at the scene and requested the laborers "to return to their work place and follow the set regulations," conclude the sources.

The dark ages of Kuwaiti women's rights; not over yet
“A Muslim woman should open her eyes and see through all the obscurity.” Perhaps, Mr. Al Qous should follow his own advice. Sometimes, when confronted with such ignorance, all you can do is laugh.

Liberals and their lies
The Daily Star, Tuesday, January 3, 2006

By Ahmed Al-Qous

Gullible and simpleminded people think that granting women their political rights is the end of their demands.
They think that this is the final curtain call on this theatrical farce known as women's rights. However, in truth, it is just the beginning.
I call upon all decent citizens of Kuwait to be on their toes, to put their guards up and not to be deceived by the liberals' deceptive calls for democracy, equality and human rights.
Western countries, lead by the United States, Britain and France are constantly trying to destabilize Muslim countries through their so-called "human rights principles." These principles are in total contradiction with our Islamic laws and are considered interferences in the way Muslims run their affairs.
These western countries offer financial and moral support to the liberals in our country, who in turn, mindlessly mimic their western principles and bring them back to us through their calls for women's rights and equality.
This same approach was tried and tested 90 years ago by the west in Egypt when their liberals were "trained" to fight the hijab and to call for the liberation of Muslim Egyptian women.
Secularism calls for the liberation of women moved from the west to Egypt and then to the rest of the Muslim world.
We are all aware that when women's movements began in Europe, they were driven by their need for equality in wages, which later expanded to their demands for total equality with men in everything, including moral corruption. Women now demand sexual partners and the right to commit adultery.
We ask liberal women and all those who belong to the liberal movement, what do you want for women? In the past, you have called for lifting restrictions on education for women and as a result, today's women are educated, employed and about to enter the National Assembly.
However, this doesn't seem to be enough.
Liberals are now calling for the destruction of the Sharia and Islamic teachings. They are calling for the elimination of inheritance laws and for granting Muslim women the right to marry infidels.
A Muslim woman should open her eyes and see through all the obscurity.
There are many slogans being thrown out by the many parties on the political scene. However, women should listen to their heart and follow the only principles that count, the words of God.

THEORY AND REALITY
Kuwait Times, Thursday, January 12, 2006
Arabic Press Review

By Dr. Sami Alrabaa

In an earlier article for Al-Qabas (Jan 5) Al-Baddah expresses indignation when British, American, or French officials come to Kuwait and "lecture us on human rights, political and social rights for women, democracy, freedom of speech, fairness and religious tolerance." Al-Baddah says, "We have all these values in our own religion, Islam. And we do not want the West, which learned all these things from us, to lecture us on our own old values, which we have developed and spread across the globe." Al-Baddah describes George W. Bush and Tony Blair as the worst dishonest people in the world and concludes, "Osama Bin Laden is right in his massive war on the West. We wish him all the best in this war and all the victory of the world and Allah bless him!"

It seems that Al-Baddah confuses theory with reality. Islam, certainly, teaches all the above values in one way or another, but in practice, are they really applied?

Abuse of authority by a police officer

In Kuwait, the following scenario is far too common. After a dispute between two individuals, one of them has a relative or a friend police officer and asked for is assistance as a scare tactic or simply to seek personal revenge. Normally, when this happens, no case has been filed, there are no records of arrest and the police officer works for a police station that had no jurisdiction over this particular issue. The following article is a fine example of this.

Filipino national beaten by police officer

The Daily Star, Tuesday, January 10, 2006

By Ricky (Amir) Laxa

KUWAIT: A Filipina national complained to the Daily Star that a Salmiya police officer came to her place of work and demanded that she go with him to the police station. The Filipina national called her employer through her mobile, but the officer refused to speak to the employer and instead hung up the phone. Since she refused to go willingly with the police officer, she was beaten and dragged from the shop before being forced to go to the police station. She was later released, but was gravely threatened.
The Filipina national explained to the Daily Star that she is married to an Egyptian national and that she accuses her husband and his family for the incident. She explained that she and her husband have had escalating problems since a phone conversation where her husband was not pleased with her tone of voice.
The conversation led to a break on which there was an argument of who was to vacate their flat. Her husband refused to stay with relatives and demanded that she vacate their flat immediately. He also would not allow her to take any of her property except her own clothes. The Filipina explained that she was responsible for buying all the electrical items and several other properties and thus should have been allowed to take them. While her husband was gone, she changed the lock on the front door and refused to give the new key to her husband until she can find her own place. This, she said, led to numerous threatening calls from her husband and a police officer who happened to be married to a sister of her husband.
After the beating, she immediately rushed to the hospital to secure medical records and later filed a complaint with the officer's police station; instead, she was given a warning that nothing will happen to her case because her husband knows influential authorities within the station. The case has been reported and filed at the Philippine Embassy and proper procedures are being done to ensure that she receives legal attention.

The Terrorism Epidemic
The Daily Star, Thursday, January 5, 2006

"members of the National Assembly should not be allowed to interfere by using wasta on behalf of those terrorists. Some MPs seek leniency and sometimes even the release of these terrorists."

By Abdullah Al-Hadlag

At last, my theory on religious radicalism and terrorism being two sides of the same coin, which I talked about six years ago, has been proven by recent events.
Investigations demonstrated that members of terrorist cells and the leaders of their networks are affiliated with religious organizations; they are misguided juveniles who help in collecting "charity" donations, and who are associated with secret meetings held at the terrorist camps we've been hearing about, or in the homes of questionable Mosque-attending terrorists.
Terrorism is disguised under the veil of religion. They take from its cloak a fake sanctity in order to escape any suspicion of wrongdoing.
Anyone who tries to pass off these terrorist attacks as insignificant and isolated incidents or as the acts of a lone and misguided individual would be gravely mistaken, not to mention delusional.
The investigations with the terrorist cells and their networks in Kuwait proved that we are now faced with strong and persistent enemies. They have the funds (brought forth by committees entrusted solely with collecting donations,) and the media (through which special religious publications are distributed containing secret codes that only terrorists can break.)
They are trained in handling weapons and explosives, complements of military camps in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Hezbollah, Iran, and Yemen. They have excellent skills in the human resources area, considering their recruiting committees in Mosques and religion associations.
In short, we are up against well-organized, trained and armed enemies.
In order for us to have any chance in defeating this hate-driven mentality, we need to do the following:
We should strengthen the monitoring systems of the Ministry of Awqaf, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Interior Ministry over all religious associations, their branches, networks, camps and finances.
These groups should not be allowed to distribute their publications at Mosques, schools, hospitals, and other public institutions.
They should banned from holding religious symposiums unless the events are first approved and licensed by the proper security authorities.
Their dangerous ideologies need to be monitored, and if need be, stopped.
Furthermore, information regarding these terrorists and their networks must be shared with intelligence agencies the world over.
National security should be considered a top priority, and all those that dare to violate it should be dealt with harshly.
Meanwhile, members of the National Assembly should not be allowed to interfere by using wasta on behalf of those terrorists.
Some MPs seek leniency and sometimes even the release of these terrorists.
If all else fails, the government should have the courage to shut down all religious associations and donation committees, because this is where terrorism is born and nurtured.
Terrorism is not just a disease; it has become an epidemic threatening humanity as a whole. Do we surrender to its will...or do we fight with all our might?

Slavery in Kuwait

GOODWILL NOT ENOUGH FOR TRAFFICKING UPGRADE; Yet to ‘dent’ 19-hour day; ‘Seen as slaves’
Arab Times, Sunday, January 1, 2006

KUWAIT CITY (AP): Annu, an Asian housemaid, says she worked 19-hour days for a year and was paid nothing. Her eyes well up with tears as she slapped her hand, demonstrating what her employers did when she reached out for food when it wasn’t lunchtime – the only meal they gave her. When she could no longer stand the treatment, Annu fled for help to the embassy of her homeland. The gaunt 38-year-old, her black hair gathered at the back of her head in a plastic clip, said she didn’t want to leave this country and hoped to find a new employer. Her three children back home need the money. “Some Kuwaiti people think that maids are slaves, that should be changed,” said a diplomat at the embassy of Annu’s country. He did not want to be identified by name or country to avoid harming ties with Kuwait.

An average of 15 maids seek refuge at the embassy every day, he said. About 166 maids currently were living in the embassy awaiting the outcome of mediation. With their employers, compensation for rape, or air tickets home. In June, the US State Department named its major ally Kuwait — estimated population 2.7 million — as one of the countries that have too little to combat human trafficking. The report cited abuse of domestic workers and laborers, and the use of boys from South Asia and Africa as jockeys in camel races. The Bush administration then waived the threat of financial or cultural sanctions on all countries on the list but Myanmar, Cuba and North Korea. There was no explanation when the decision was announced in September. The American Ambassador, Richard LeBaron, told reporters last month, that Kuwait had “good intentions and plans,” for change but “concrete actions are what will make the difference in the re-evaluation of Kuwait’s practices that we will need to make by January.”

Mentioning the January deadline suggested a new list could be assembled, but it was not clear if sanctions would be threatened again. Beyond the approximately 450,000 domestic servants, tens of thousands of laborers from the Indian subcontinent herd sheep in the desert, collect garbage, clean streets, hospitals and government offices, and work in agriculture for salaries as low as 20 dinars ($68) a month. Demonstrations by laborers claiming they aren’t paid for months at a time are common. In April, more than 700 Bangladeshi workers ransacked their country’s embassy in frustration. Newspaper columnists have called their plight “slave trade.”

Lawmaker Ali al-Rashed, who heads Parliament’s human rights committee, said servant abuse is an “exception” and some maids “make up” stories of abuse to get out of their contracts. However, he conceded the government must act more quickly to guarantee prompt payment of laborers and punish companies that “harm Kuwait’s reputation,” by not meeting their obligations. Some cleaning workers have told The Associated press they depend on charities for food. Kuwait has activated a ban on boys riding camels in races and robots have been introduced to take their places. The government has a labor claims department, but not all foreign laborers know about it, speak enough Arabic to communicate their grievances or can afford the transportation and time off from work to use it.

A new Cabinet-proposed bill for private sector workers is widely expected to address labor issues, but it has not been deliberated in Parliament, and it does not cover domestic workers. The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration proposed in April 2004 the establishment of a Migration Resource Center which would give guidance and legal services for foreign workers who face problems and don’t know where to find help.“So far, the proposal is still in the corridors of the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry,” said Mohammed al-Nassery, the IOM’s chief of mission in Kuwait. Al-Nassery said he has not been able to find a way to gain access to maids at their workplaces in a way that would not “compromise” the privacy or the integrity of the Kuwaiti household.

Muslim clerics should preach humane treatment of foreign laborers, and human rights should be included in school books, he said, adding that changing behavior will take generations. A the root of the grievances is the sponsorship system, which allows a Kuwaiti individual to employ house help, dismiss them or sent them back home at whim. Although it is illegal, most hold the passports of these workers. The union the represents the 500 companies that recruit domestic workers from Asian nations is writing new contracts to be signed by maids, the sponsor and the recruitment agency. They are said to limit working hours to eight, insure overtime payments and a day off. The Asian diplomat, however, said the contracts would be pointless if maids, for example, are kept in the homes of their employers and off limits to those who could help them.

Asked if Kuwait would be removed from the US State Department list of countries that have failed to sufficiently combat human trafficking, the IOM official said: “Not yet … they (the government) have shown good will, but they haven’t acted on it yet.” Many Kuwaitis reject outside pressure for change, even from Washington, the leading force in the 1991 Gulf War which ended a seven-month Iraqi occupation of this country. A cartoon published in Al-Watan daily newspaper in November, showed a citizen telling what appeared to be a US ambassador: “I hope that you don’t think we have become your slaves because you liberated us, Mr ambassador.” When the diplomat told him they were using boys to ride camels in races and not giving Asian workers their dues, the man replied: “Oooh, I thought you were talking about something important.”