There is some good news for domestic workers in Kuwait: The National Assembly adopted a new law in June that will grant them unprecedented legal rights. The law applies to family maids, baby sitters, cooks and drivers. More than 660,000 domestic workers are currently...
The KTUF, whose role in cross-regional collaborations the Solidarity Center supports, celebrates International Migrants Day with migrant workers from Ghana, Sri Lanka and other countries. Credit: Solidarity Center/Abdulrahman Alturki
The Solidarity Center supports Kuwaiti unions’ active role in cross-regional collaborations, as well as capacity building programs for Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF) affiliates in the civil service and oil sectors.
Established in 1967, the KTUF was the first union formed in the Gulf region and now is composed of 15 affiliated public-sector unions and six oil sector unions with some 35,000 civil service and oil sector members. It maintains a vigorous presence in deliberations on proposed labor law reform, economic restructuring, trade union rights and democratic freedoms.
Domestic Workers: ‘Bought and Paid for in the Gulf States’
On a trip to Kuwait two years ago, Nisha Varia from Human Rights Watch visited a hospital where two rooms were filled with injured domestic workers who had tried to escape from their employers’ homes. Trapped in abusive situations, the women jumped from windows or...