KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28 (AFP): Kuwait will scrap the much-criticised sponsor system for foreign labour in February, the Al-Rai newspaper reported, becoming only the second Gulf country to abolish a practice that has been likened to slavery.
The paper quoted Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Mohammed al-Afasi as saying that the system, locally known as "kafeel," will be scrapped when a public authority for the recruitment of foreign workers is established in February.
"This will be our gift to foreign workers on the anniversary of Kuwait's liberation," from seven months of Iraqi occupation in 1991, the minister said.
Kuwait will become the second Gulf country to abolish the system after Bahrain, which decided in 2009 to end its longstanding requirement for all foreign workers to be sponsored by a citizen.
Bahrain likened the sponsorship system to modern-day slavery. The practice also has been slammed by international rights groups.
Kuwait to scrap sponsor system for workers
FE Team | Published: September 29, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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