Rights push for workers’ safety
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 29 December 2006
MEMBERS of the public are being urged to boycott companies that cut costs by ferrying foreign labourers to and from work in conditions “worse than those used to transport animals”.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and follows traffic accidents in which workers travelling in open-top trucks have been injured or killed.
Vice-president Nabeel Rajab said they could have been avoided if companies were not so greedy and paid a little attention to safety.
Rights push for workers’ safety
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 29 December 2006
MEMBERS of the public are being urged to boycott companies that cut costs by ferrying foreign labourers to and from work in conditions “worse than those used to transport animals”.
The campaign is being spearheaded by the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and follows traffic accidents in which workers travelling in open-top trucks have been injured or killed.
Vice-president Nabeel Rajab said they could have been avoided if companies were not so greedy and paid a little attention to safety.
“These incidents are merely examples of the corrupt and inhumane policy of transporting migrant workers in conditions worse than those used to transport animals,” he said.
“We call on companies to adopt at least minimum humanitarian standards in treating workers.
“We urge the Bahrain government to take such gross violations of the law seriously and to act against perpetrators, ensuring that its people’s wealth is not built upon the misery of others.
“And finally, we call on Bahrain’s public to boycott companies which refuse to respect the dignity and hard work of their employees.”
Mr Rajab also called on the public to help the media highlight such cases.
“Readers should be encouraged to send photos of such blatant violations to newspapers, which can in turn publish them as part of a workers’ protection campaign,” he said.
“Migrant workers are often piled into the back of goods-carrier vehicles along with materials.
“Large numbers of men crowded into the back of trucks without any protection from the hot, cold or wet weather is a common sight in Bahrain.
“They can also be seen being transported without seats or seatbelts.
“Although these practices also violate the Labour Ministry’s Occupational Hazards and Safety code, officials continue to fail in ensuring its implementation.
“In a country that is establishing its place on the international financial market through massive construction and development projects, the human cost of such ventures is shamefully ignored.
“The practice of transporting migrant labourers to and from worksites in the back of open trailers and trucks is a deplorable way in which companies cut costs at a high human expense.
“With such combined efforts, we can ensure that the conditions for workers are as bright as the future these developments promise to bring to our country.”
Mr Rajab said that Article 16 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families states that migrant workers and their families are entitled to effective protection by the state against violence, physical injury, threats and intimidation, whether by public officials or by private individuals, groups or institutions.
The GDN reported on December 19 that a ban on companies transporting workers in open trucks would be enforced within a month. The practice is already illegal, but authorities are now stepping up efforts to police company transport.
New rules governing workers’ transportation have been drawn up by the Labour Ministry and the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Traffic.
Traffic officials have approved new specifications for trucks that will be allowed to ferry workers to and from work, said Labour Ministry labour relations director Shaikh Ali bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa.
Rules
Vehicles that meet the new specifications will be supplied special badges by the General Directorate of Traffic, which should be clearly displayed.
Those being used to transport workers without the badge will be stopped for inspection by traffic policemen.
The specifications also call for the maximum number of workers who can be transported in each vehicle and the speed limit to be observed. It comes after three workers were killed and 21 injured in a two-truck crash in Bahrain in October.
In a similar incident on September, 28 construction workers were injured when they were hurled from the back of an open truck. Both incidents sparked calls for tighter controls on workers’ safety by diplomats and human rights workers.
© Gulf Daily News