| ‘Labour’ seeks MoI views on UN rights panel suggestions on maids |
| | Mon, 19 Jul 2010 |
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KUWAIT CITY, July 18: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has asked the Ministry of Interior to give its views on the recommendations issued by the UN Human Rights Committee, obliging Kuwait to abide by the international conventions to protect its domestic workers, and include them in the private sector labour law Number 6/2010, reports Al-Qabas daily.
In a letter to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour stated the MoI works on protecting the expatriate personnel, while it specializes in bringing in the domestic workers through many regulatory systems. However, domestic workers were excluded from the private sector labour law, and it exposed Kuwait to criticism by the international human rights committee and other international organizations.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour stressed that Kuwait actively participated in the meetings of the UN Human Rights Committee, which led to the issuance of those recommendations and compelled Kuwait to take them into consideration without delay.
In the meantime, the ministry requires the viewpoints of MoI, with regards to providing complete protection for this segment of the work force, in addition to its major expectations in the residency law and related issues. It has also called for an immediate response to the proposal, to pave the way for a single report to be filed to clarify Kuwait’s stance in that regard.
Meanwhile, the General Administration for Citizenship and Passports Affairs is studying a proposal to withdraw the Kuwaiti nationality from children of divorced women breaching the law by going back to their non-Kuwaiti husbands, reported Al Watan daily.
Study
The study is being supervised by the General Manager of Public Administration for Nationality and Passports, Major General Sheikh Faisal Al Nawaf and legal experts. The move came after the officials found out that many Kuwaiti women who were legally divorced with their Arab and GCC-national husbands in the interests of their children have secretly returned to their husbands through marriage contracts signed in neighbouring countries, while others are married in secret.
The proposal, if completed, will be submitted to the Minister of Interior, which will then be presented to the National Assembly for approval, to pave the way for the citizenship to be stripped from those children.
Meanwhile, a reliable source confirmed the current scrutiny of the list of names expected to be naturalized has revealed the name of an Arab maid who used to work in the 60s and 70s for a Kuwaiti family and attained the nationality, since she was included in the 1965 census.
The source noted the maid was naturalized when the entire family was being naturalized, and many others were also naturalized without using their proper names, whereas others carried their relatives’ names. He also disclosed that some of them were restricted securitywise, and they were disqualified from obtaining the nationality.
In other developments, officers at the Salmi exit apprehended two Bedoun people who tried to leave the country with Saudi Arabian passports which were not their own.
They were reportedly riding in a vehicle with 19 other Saudi Arabian nationals when the officer in charge uncovered their passports were owned by other people, and he informed the assistant manager of the Salmi border exit immediately.
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