The Reuters news agency confirmed that Qatar amended the residence laws, yesterday, to allow most of the foreign workers to leave the country without getting permits from their sponsors, which had been the demand of many labor rights organizations for a long time.
The Minister of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs said that most migrant workers would be able to leave the country without getting permits from their sponsors according the law. Moreover, the employer would have the right to request up to five percent of his employees to obtain leave permits by submitting a list of their names to the Qatari Government with justification for the request based on the nature of their work in the institution.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) welcomed this move, considering it an "important step" taken by the gas-rich, Qatar, which pledged, last year, to implement comprehensive labor reforms, including amendments in the leaving permit system.
"The International Labor Organization (ILO) welcomes the passing of Law No. 13 which will have a direct and positive impact on the migrant workers’ lives in Qatar", said “Hotan Humayunpour”, the director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Doha, which opened in last April.
The Qatari system still obliges 1.6 million foreign workers, most of them Asians, to obtain the consent of their sponsors before they change their jobs, which workers consider as a total abuse for them and their rights.
#cancellation #leaving_permit #foreign_workers #Qatar
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