The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights welcomes the news of a six month worker’s amnesty beginning in Bahrain this August (Bahrain Tribune, June 24).
However, in order for this move to be more than a cosmetic measure the Labour Ministry and other parties must make every effort possible to ensure that workers are given clear information about how the amnesty will work.
It is particularly important that domestic workers – who live in their sponsors’ homes and have extremely limited freedom of movement and little access to the outside world – are provided with information about this amnesty.
The BCHR calls on the Bahraini authorities to produce materials for workers explaining the amnesty and what steps workers need to take to ensure they are working within the framework of the law, in different languages.
The Bahraini government should also encourage local employers to facilitate the transfer of workers to legal employment, and to left any governmental complication for the local employer to do so.
The BCHR also calls on embassies and social clubs of sending countries to create distribute materials and implement initiatives that reach out to their citizens in their own language(s).
Embassies and social clubs should also undertake the responsibility of providing financial assistance to workers who wish to return to their homeland but cannot afford to pay the travel fare.
Labour minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi has reportedly stated that following the closure of the amnesty period violators of Law 19 (2006) will be “strictly punished”.
The BCHR urges the Labour Ministry to ensure that companies and individuals exploiting “free visa” workers are made to comply with the law, and not just vulnerable workers, many of whom end up working illegally because of desperate economic conditions.