BAHRAIN'S labour reforms, including protection for expatriate workers, were praised at a meeting of GCC Labour Ministers in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The Gulf Forum on Expatriate Workers was organised by the UAE Labour Ministry in co-operation with the GCC Labour and Social Affairs Ministers' Council.
The two-day event at UAE Palace, was supported by the International Migration Organisation (IMO), the International Labour Organi-sation's (ILO) regional office for Arab countries, and the Arab Labour Organisation.
IMO director general Bronson McKenley, in his opening address, welcomed Bahrain's participation in the organisation's activities as an observer since June last year.
"This membership is a positive step for Bahrain in the field of protection of expatriate workers' rights," he said.
ILO regional director Nada Nashif emphasised the seriousness of Bahrain in developing its legislations to conform with the ILO directives.
She also praised the unemployment insurance law in Bahrain and the kingdom's efforts in developing legislations related to organising the labour market.
The GCC Labour Ministers, including Bahrain's Labour Minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi, stressed that the expatriate workers in the Gulf were not migrants, but were employed on temporary contracts.
"Any job occupied by an expatriate is vacant when his contract is over and the priority in filling this position has to be given to nationals," they noted.
"The expatriates' rights and duties have to be specified in their contracts."
"They do not have a desire to make the Gulf their permanent residence. The expatriate workers have come to the Gulf looking for jobs to improve their living standards."
The forum discussed the areas of co-operation between labour exporting countries and the GCC countries receiving those workers.
Bahrain delegation member Dr Baqer Al Najjar presented a study on the expatriate workers in the GCC, based on similar studies carried out in Asian and Gulf countries.
Dr Al Alawi took the lead in drafting the meeting's recommendations, based on the outcome of a two-day meeting of Labour Ministers from 21 Asian countries.
The meeting which was the fourth ministerial consultation on the Colombo Process, ended in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The meeting stressed that the Gulf companies must ensure that the workers are employed for the jobs for which they have been recruited.
They also must ensure that the workers' rights are protected, the meeting noted.
Issues like building the capability of Gulf nationals, exchange of information and technical co-operation were also discussed.
Dr Al Alawi will make a presentation on expatriate workers in the Gulf at the symposium today.
