Maids to be protected under GCC-wide law

WORKER RIGHTS: The GCC is working on a new law to better protect the rights of domestic workers. (Getty Images)

The rights of foreign housemaids working in the Gulf may soon be protected by a GCC-wide law, Bahrain's labour minister has revealed.

Majeed Al-Alawi said a committee with representatives from all GCC countries is working on a new law addressing the rights of foreign housemaids in the Gulf, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Sunday.

The joint move was initiated because maids are not covered under individual labour laws of GCC countries, Al-Alawi said.

"We do not know how long it will take to draft the law and get it approved. Once it is in force, the law will be considered as a reference document for all the GCC countries," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Although housemaids do not come under the legislation of Bahrain’s labour law, they are free to register complaints with the Labour Ministry if they face any exploitation, he added.

"Once we receive any complaint, it will be investigated in coordination with the Interior Ministry," he said.

"Non-governmental organisations like the Migrant Workers Protection Society also take up the cases of housemaids who fall victims of exploitation."

Meanwhile, the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) will introduce a special system to regulate the employment of housemaids, Al-Alawi said.

"The LMRA will start issuing work visas for all expatriates from July 1. The new regulations by LMRA, which will also protect the interest of housemaids, may come into force within two years," he said.

Gulf states are regularly criticised over the treatment of domestic workers, with international organisations calling on governments to affort workers greater rights and protection.

Bahrain, along with other Gulf states, came in for criticism in a 2007 report by US-based Human Rights Watch entitled ‘Exported and Exposed’ for the treatment of domestic workers, which the group claimed faced “violence, harassment and exploitation”.

RELATED: Study blasts Gulf for worker abuse

In March Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) slammed the government for failing to address the plight of women in Gulf state, claiming women were still widely discriminated against and enjoyed few freedoms in general society.

The rights group highlighted the plight of female migrant workers, saying that “special attention must be given to the plight of female migrant domestic workers, as they have been by and large ignored and excluded from the discourse on women's rights”.

RELATED: Bahrain slammed over women's rights

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