KUWAIT CITY, July 16: About 300 domestic workers (Article 20 visa) have transferred to the private sector within 48 hours of implementing the decision to allow such transfer last Sunday. It has been confirmed that there is a high demand among domestic workers to benefit from this decision, which will continue for two months. It is believed that this move will reinforce the manpower shortage in private companies by taking advantage of the skills of workers who are already inside the country, instead of hiring from abroad.

According to estimates, the decision to allow domestic workers to transfer to the private sector will contribute to reviving the private sector through the provision of workers needed in the completion of certain projects. Meanwhile, the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has launched the national project ‘Together 4’ to protect the rights of expatriate workers in Kuwait, in partnership with the Kuwaiti Society for Human Rights, reports Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). In a press conference, Acting Deputy Director General of the Labor Protection Sector at the Authority, Dr. Fahad Al-Murad affirmed that the Authority seeks to review all procedures to guarantee the rights of all expatriate workers in Kuwait. The Authority is also working to evaluate all aspects of the employment measures, starting from the recruitment stage and then employment to the return of workers to their countries, he added.

He also noted that the ‘Together 4’ project comes within the framework of the Authority’s efforts aimed at strengthening cooperation with civil society institutions and public benefit associations and institutionalizing cooperation between them by developing a special mechanism through the establishment of the permanent committee to work on linking and coordinating between them. For his part, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Khaled Al-Humaidi, said that ‘Together 4’ consists of several activities, including social, psychological and legal support and providing consultations via the hotline in six different languages.