Dubai: Plight of migrant workers remain
among the key areas of concerns in the Gulf nations, the top
UN human rights official has said and asked for abolition of
the abusive sponsoring system for hiring them.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
asked those States that had not yet done so to replace the
sponsoring system (Kafala) "with updated labour laws that can
better balance rights and duties."
Indians form a chunk of migrant workers in GCC
countries.
Pillay said GCC states had received recommendations
focusing on four concerns in particular: women`s rights,
migration, statelessness, and freedom of expression,
association and assembly.
She noted the positive trend that has led to some GCC
countries abolishing or reconsidering the sponsorship system
known as Kafala that "rigidly binds migrants to their
employers, enabling the latter to commit abuses, while
preventing workers from changing jobs or leaving the country."
"The situation of migrant domestic workers is of
particular concern."
She drew attention to their often inadequate living
and working conditions and to the fact that they are sometimes
"unable to obtain access to judicial recourse and effective
remedies for their plight."
Reports "consistently cite ongoing practices of
unlawful confiscation of passports, withholding of wages and
exploitation by unscrupulous recruitment agencies and
employers," she said.
In a keynote speech at the King Abdullah University
for Science and Technology in Jeddah on Monday, Pillay said
concerns remain especially in the area of economic and social
rights, children’s rights and human trafficking.
There is an encouraging level of governmental activity
to improve human rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries, Pillai added.
The speech marked the beginning of a 10-day
six-country mission which is intended to improve cooperation
between the UN human rights system and the GCC countries.
She also emphasised the important role being played
by migrant workers in making society function and expressed
concerns about their treatment, which she said reflected
problems facing migrants elsewhere in the world.
"Education, including higher studies, is available to
an ever-increasing number of women in the region. Investing in
education, including education for women, is not only fair,
but it is also smart policy," she said.
According to her, progress has also been achieved in
other areas, noting that some member states of the
Organisation of the Islamic Conference have modified their
laws with respect to women`s rights, including marriage,
divorce and public participation.
"This approach was due to dynamic interpretations of
Islamic traditions on the part of Governments and jurists who,
I am informed, demonstrated that far from being innovations,
such legislation was compatible with Islamic jurisprudence
and, indeed, stemmed from it."
PTI
