GOK TWEAKS GROUNDBREAKING SPONSORSHIP REFORM

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000844 SIPDIS NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KWMN KTIP ELAB KU SUBJECT: GOK TWEAKS GROUNDBREAKING SPONSORSHIP REFORM REF: KUWAIT 788 ¶1. (U) Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL) Minister Mohammad Al-Afasi issued a groundbreaking resolution on August 9 allowing foreign workers in Kuwait's private sector for the first time to quit their jobs and change to a new employer provided they had remained with their current employer for at least three years. (Prior to August 9, these foreign workers could not change sponsors without their employers' permission.) Within a few days of issuing this reform, however, Al-Afasi issued a clarification August 13 requiring that cashiers and other foreign workers involved in finance obtain an affidavit of release from their employer before being able to change sponsors. -------------- -------------- Who can transfer sponsors under the new August 9 three-year rule? -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Mansour Al-Mansour, Assistant Undersecretary for MOSAL's labor section, told PolOff on August 25 that the three-year rule applies exclusively to foreign workers in Kuwait's private sector and excluded the domestic workers who, coincidentally, are those most vulnerable to trafficking abuses. Of Kuwait's nearly two million foreign workers, over 100,000 work in the public sector, some half a million work in the private sector as domestic workers, and another approximately one million work in the private sector. The new three-year rule applies solely to these one million foreign workers. If the foreign worker's private sector company is operating under a GOK contract, the worker will not be allowed to transfer sponsors until the contract between the company and the GOK is finished. -------------- -------------- Who must obtain employer permission under the August 13 decree? -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) According to the August 13 decree, foreign workers involved in handing finances -- such as cashiers -- require a "quittance" -- or clearing of accounts -- from their employer in order to change sponsors. According to Al-Mansour, MOSAL will waive the quittance requirement if the worker signs a pledge that no funds are owed and the employer is unable to prove otherwise. When asked how many foreign workers had been allowed to transfer sponsors under the new three-year rule, Al-Mansour said that it is difficult to tell because MOSAL , in tallying the number of workers who have transferred, makes no distinction between cases under the new law and those transferring under prior practices. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (SBU) This reform should help thousands of eligible foreign workers who are seeking to change employers. By enabling talented workers to switch to better jobs and employers more easily, this improvement in labor mobility should also promote greater economic efficiency. For MOSAL Minister Al-Afasi, who has only been in office since May, the adoption of this measure represents an impressive achievement that parallels his constant public campaigning for even more far-reaching reform of Kuwait's foreign worker sponsorship system. His August 9 decision presages, we believe, a positive new attitude on the part of MOSAL towards promotion of the rights of expat workers, and may lead to even more reform. ********************************************* ********* For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: visit Kuwait's Classified Website at: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it ********************************************* ********* WILLIAMS