DOHA: An extensive report by the GCC Secretariat on expatriate workforce in member-countries, that may possibly be including recommendations about some reforms to the regional kafala systems, is to be tabled at the meeting of Labour Ministers being held here today.
One thing which is confirmed is that the above-cited report does have recommendations about having in place a common GCC system for expatriate workers’ recruitment.
The report was prepared after a workshop was held by the GCC Secretariat-General on the issue of expatriate workers in the region and their condition and recommendations made thereon on how to introduce some needed reforms.
A senior GCC official yesterday hinted in remarks to QNA that the GCC states are working to have a joint look at the kafala systems in member-countries as well.
Dr Adil bin Khalifa Al Zayani, head of human and environment unit of the GCC Secretariat-General, told QNA that at their two-day meeting concluded here yesterday in preparation for today’s ministerial council meeting, undersecretaries from the labour ministries of the GCC states agreed that they will work jointly to have unified labour rules, systems, including recruitment procedures, as also look jointly at their kafala systems for making possible changes.
Proposed changes to the kafala systems, if at all, will be studied in phases, said Al Zayani.
“The decision to have a common strategy of the GCC states on the above issues had been taken earlier by the supreme leaders,” he said.
A reports on creating jobs for GCC nationals will also be tabled at today’s meeting of the GCC Labour Ministers’ Council, said the official.
Mohamed Ali Al Meer, head of public relations at Qatar’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, said that the GCC states were making all-out efforts to have common rules and systems for social and labour issues.
These issues include providing more jobs to GCC women and having a unified policy on recruiting foreign workers.
He pooh-poohed global human rights organisations for making false accusations of labour and women’s rights abuses and said the GCC states were moving in the right direction to have common systems in place.
Having more and more women in jobs, both in the state and private sectors, is one of the priorities of the GCC states.
The Peninsula
