Undersecretaries of GCC Ministries of Labour agreed in their meeting held in Manama to adopt the Gulf unified draft contract for the domestic workers.
“The meeting came out with fruitful results, which will sure contribute in supporting the coordination and cooperation march between our countries, particularly the issue of the domestic workers,” the Director General of the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Ministers of Labour and Council of Ministers of Social Affairs, Aqeel Ahmed Al Jassim said.
Al Jassim highlighted that the meeting was held with the participation of GCC Undersecretaries of Ministries of Labour and officials at the Immigration Directorates, who discussed and recommended the adoption of the Gulf model contract for the domestic workers, where the contract will be submitted to the Ministers of Labour in their 30th meeting held in Bahrain in 2013 to be finally adopted.
“The sincere discussion of the participants in the meeting contributed in enhancing several amendments aiming at balancing the working relationship between families and the domestic worker, including protecting the rights of all parties,” Al Jassim added.
The General Director of the Executive Bureau pointed out that the meeting came out with a recommendation to be referred to the Ministers of Labour in their next meeting to be presented to the GCC Ministers of Interior, which stipulates the prohibition of the entry of any expatriate worker committing a violation of escape from his employer, in any GCC country to any other Gulf state.
Al Jassim added that the meeting also adopted a proposed working paper from the State of Qatar on Gulf strategy to address the pressures faced by GCC states from countries sending the labour, where its results will be raised to the Council of Ministers of Labour for final adoption.
He also said that the strategy contains several procedural steps and a process aims at unifying the procedures of the member states concerning the issue of recruiting domestic workers, in addition to holding collective meetings between the member states and the countries sending the labour.
Al Jassim valued the efforts done by the Ministry of Labour in the State of Qatar, the President of the team work responsible for organizing the work of the domestic workers, as well as the Ministry of Labour in the Kingdom of Bahrain, for the coordination and the good preparation of the meeting through continuous coordination with the Executive Bureau.