Kuwait plans to scrap sponsor system for expats

Faisal ALT · 2012-06-10T23:43:52+02:00

Discover Kuwait's plans to abolish the controversial sponsor system for expats, exploring its impact on foreign workers and labor rights.

Faisal ALT Member

Member since 24 March 2012

Faisal ALTMember10 June 2012 21:43:52

Kuwait may abolish its controversial sponsor system for foreign workers, described by some as a contemporary form of slavery.
According to Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Rai, the sponsor system is likely to be abolished in February, when a public authority for the recruitment of expatriate workers will be set up.
The system, known locally as kafeel, requires all foreign workers to have sponsorship by a Kuwaiti employer before they enter the country.
Because sponsored expatriates find it difficult to change jobs or leave the country without their sponsors' permission, it has been described as a form of modern slavery.
The paper quoted Mohammed al-Afasi, Kuwait聮s Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, as saying that the abolition of kafeel would be a 聯gift to foreign workers on the anniversary of Kuwait聮s liberation聰 from Iraqi occupation in 1991.
If Kuwait goes ahead with the ban, it will be only the second country in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to abolish the system, after Bahrain in 2009.