Dependence on foreign labor
The figures are worrying and the Cabinet and assembly must look at them carefully, particularly because the official numbers indicate that the number of citizens among the total population is no more than 31%. Kuwait now has only 1,100,000 citizens. What is really scary is that most citizens work in the public sector where their percentage has reached 90%. This is exactly the sector which is not productive. We are trying that Kuwaiti youth should be working in the private sector or the productive sectors in the country because the numbers published by MSAL show a low percentage of national labor in this sector, a mere 35% of the total workers.
The problem of the foreign labor and the demographic issues is an old one. It started with late Ahmad Al-Duaij and the planning council in the 1960s. About half-a-century has passed without finding any serious solution. Why did Kuwait and other Arabian Gulf countries fail in dealing with the labor-related issues vis-a-vis the demographic structure? There are many reasons, most important of which is the lack of seriousness by revenue oriented gulf countries. The gulf regimes adopted a wrong policy in focussing on quantitative but not qualitative aspects of education.
These countries thought that quantitative expansion of education will solve the labor problem but weak curricula and disconnect with the needs of the market only led to an increased dependence of these countries on foreign labor. Why is dependence on foreign labor continuing and rather increasing every year? Foreign labor is more competent, appreciative and productive than Kuwaiti citizens. Their demands are lesser and these workmen do not interfere in politics and they do not go on strike or demonstrate.
This means that the Gulf States actually do not need their citizens, especially when they do not pay taxes unlike the rest of the people anywhere in the world. Citizens do not face conscription in the army even in case of a foreign aggression. The Gulf States signed security agreements with major powers to protect themselves from any foreign attack. In simple terms, the state in the gulf is stronger than the society, and the society with its public and private sectors depends on the state in every matter. Salary increases in all gulf countries following the Arab spring revolutions increased the citizens' dependence on the government and actually ended up marginalizing them.
The tragedy in Kuwait is that the increased salaries in the public sector led to the migration of citizens from private to public sector, leaving the private sector largely in the hands of the foreign labor as Kuwaiti youth refrained from working in it. There are no magic solutions for this problem other than reviewing the education and training systems. We need to prepare our youth that can compete with others at the work place. In order to propel a movement towards such a scenario, there is need to stop recruitment in the public sector. — Al-Watan
By Dr Shamlan Al-Essa
+++++
http://www.international.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=128597
Migrant Workers in the Middle East: Calling Awareness to Legalized Abuses of Human Rights
Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, speaks on migrant worker abuse in the Middle East.
by Jonathan McCollum
Labor related deaths in the Middle East among migrant workers amount to as many as "one death a week," alerts Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. Most alarming is the scale of the abuse and exploitation, which, according to Whitson, is "readily resolvable."
Focusing mainly on the plight of migrant workers in the oil-rich Gulf nations, which in some countries make up to as much as 90% of the labor force, Whitson informed her UCLA audience of the systemic abuse of human rights in the region. Enabling these abuses is "a triangle of oppression," said Whitson, which seeks to exploit domestic and construction workers recruited from the nations in South, Central, and East Asia.
The recruits, eager for the job opportunities offered by the wealthy nations of the Persian Gulf, arrive in their new host countries to find themselves in a rigid racial and ethnic hierarchy that, in cooperation with an oppressive legal framework, suppresses their basic human rights, including their right to terminate their own employment.
Employers often confiscate passports and garnish workers' wages, even refusing to issue payment until remunerated for the hefty fees levied by recruiters. Workers, lodged in deplorable housing and forced to labor long hours often in dangerous conditions without pay, cannot even flee these circumstances due to absconding laws that threaten migrants with imprisonment.
An end to this oppression is "achievable," in Whitson's view, but only if governments would take the initiative to abolish the restrictive sponsorship laws, which permit exploitation by placing immigrants in the custody of native individuals, and prosecute those that violate existing laws protecting migrants. Human Rights Watch, through constant monitoring of abuses and an ambitious media campaign that seeks to change popular perceptions in the Arab world about the plight of migrant workers, remains committed to building an awareness of this international tragedy.
An audio podcast of the talk is available.
The event was sponsored by the UCLA International Institute and the Program on International Migration
Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Center for Near Eastern Studies
+++++
Untuk membaca "HUman trafficking....." click situs di bawah ini :
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/SaudiArabia.htm
| Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery |
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
Milis Wanita Muslimah
Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wanita_muslimah
Situs Web: http://www.wanita-muslimah.com
ARSIP DISKUSI : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/messages
Kirim Posting mailto:wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com
Berhenti mailto:wanita-muslimah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Milis Keluarga Sejahtera mailto:keluarga-sejahtera@yahoogroups.com
Milis Anak Muda Islam mailto:majelismuda@yahoogroups.com
Milis ini tidak menerima attachment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment