GCC mulls unified domestic worker recruitment system

Political and economic alliance Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of the Middle East is mulling over creating a unified recruitment system for domestic workers.

These workers will work in its member states as a way to strengthen their negotiations with labor-exporting countries, which includes the Philippines.

Arab News, a media outfit based in Saudi Arabia, reported the development on Wednesday, quoting Saudi Foreign Recruitment Committee chair Saad Nahar Al-Baddah, noting that the move was in response to “recent issues,” such as domestic workers on death row for killing their employers.

The GCC is composed of six countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait.

“A local news report on Saturday cited an unnamed GCC official stating that GCC ministers of Labor and Social Affairs intended to agree on a unified law to govern the recruitment and work of household labors in member states during in their next meeting in October in Bahrain,” Arab News said.

The official also said a joint committee of member states would propose a unified recruitment contract that the ministers would discuss in the meeting.”

The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported in January that more than 21 million people across Asia and the Pacific are employed as domestic workers, and that “[o]nly domestic workers in the Middle East (many of whom are migrants from Asia) have weaker legal entitlements.”

The Philippines is considered one of the top sources of domestic workers, mostly women, in the Gulf region.

Arab News also quoted Sahar Al-Kabi, chairperson of the human resources committee at the Federation of GCC Chambers, when he expressed the necessity in forming regulatory decisions to discuss the “increasing number of issues” related to domestic workers.

“Only having a law to govern the recruitment and work of all labor, instead of one specifically for house workers is a big problem in Gulf countries given the large number of household workers in the region,” Al-Kabi said.

Arab News also noted a statement by the Kuwaiti Association of Household Labor Agencies chair Fadhel Ashkanani, who stated that up to 60 percent of domestic worker-related abuses will be eliminated through the regulation of recruitment among GCC countries.

“Regulations, like a minimum wage law for example, must be implemented in each country,” he said. “It is the responsibility of officials in charge of legislation and applying such laws.”

“Relevant ministries at the GCC have to work together to tackle common problems. Domestic workers’ issues in all member countries are similar: Stealing, escaping and abuse [of the employer against the worker],” he also said. – Gian Geronimo/KDM/KBK, GMA News