Promises must be followed by implementation -safe transportation methods for Migrants workers should be adopted by companies and ensured by government officials.
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Just three months after the Labour Ministry promised a ban on companies transporting labourers in the back of open covered trucks, the BCHR is alarmed to note that yet another group of workers lives were endangered by this deplorable practice.
Promises must be followed by implementation -safe transportation methods for Migrants workers should be adopted by companies and ensured by government officials.
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Just three months after the Labour Ministry promised a ban on companies transporting labourers in the back of open covered trucks, the BCHR is alarmed to note that yet another group of workers lives were endangered by this deplorable practice.
Bangladeshi labourer Anwar Mian underwent “emergency life-saving brain surgery” after the open truck the men were being transported in overturned, according to the Gulf Daily News. Four other men were also injured, including one other serious case who was hospitalized with Mr. Mian.
“The practice of transporting labourers to and from worksites in the back of open covered trailers and trucks is a gross violation of their human rights,” BCHR Vice-president Nabeel Rajab said yesterday. “It also violates the Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Hazards and Safety code. “While we welcome the official measures promised to curb this behavior, we would like to see the authorities implement the measures.”The failure to do so endangers the lives of workers who have contributed greatly to developments in Bahrain.
“It is shameful that in the past a number of workers have been killed, and now injured, as a result of companies’ failure to respect workers rights – and the government’s failure to ensure implementation of its own code of practices.”
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights condemns such unabated and unchecked violations of human rights.”We hold the individual companies responsible for the health and well being of their workers in this regard,” Mr. Rajab said. “We also then hold the government responsible for ensuring that companies are adhering to the standards of safety they have set out.”
The BCHR calls on companies to respect the human rights and dignity of their Migrant workers, and the company involved in yesterday’s accident to
take on the burden of any medical bills these men may have acquired. We urge companies to abandon such dangerous practices.
The BCHR also urges the Labour Ministry to implement its promise to ban such methods, and to take action against companies which violate
this standard.