Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KUWAIT554
2006-02-15 13:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

NEW LABOR MINISTER OPEN TO ENDING EXPATRIATE LABOR

Tags:  PHUM ELAB KU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8153
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHKU #0554 0461343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151343Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3062
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
UNCLAS KUWAIT 000554 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

FOR NEA/ARPI, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU
SUBJECT: NEW LABOR MINISTER OPEN TO ENDING EXPATRIATE LABOR
SPONSOR SYSTEM

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000554

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

FOR NEA/ARPI, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU
SUBJECT: NEW LABOR MINISTER OPEN TO ENDING EXPATRIATE LABOR
SPONSOR SYSTEM


1. (U) New Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Shaykh Ali
Al-Jarrah said that he is open to looking into alternatives
to Kuwait's system of sponsorship of foreign workers. His
remarks came in an interview with Al-Watan newspaper, in
which he was aked about the ILO's request that Kuwait end the
sponsorship system. (Note: Every foreign worker must have a
"Kafeel" (sponsor) while in Kuwait. This system gives
sponsors a great deal of leverage vis-a-vis workers, and
widespread abuse has occurred, to the point that some workers
become indentured servants. End Note.)


2. (SBU) The ILO visited Kuwait in 2005 to study labor
conditions. Thabet Al-Haroun, the ILO representative in
Kuwait, told PolOff that they met with Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor officials and made recommendations on three
issues: the necessity of passage of the new Labor Law;
finding alternatives to the sponsor system; and ending child
labor. Al-Haroun is taking a wait-and-see approach as to
whether the new Minister's pronouncement will have any
effect. He was optimistic, however, that there will be
progress on the Labor Law. He claims there is no major
opposition to it, and it simply has been tied up
bureaucratically.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s

Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/
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