The National Bureau for Human Rights faces several challenges in terms of the work entrusted to it, due to the expiration of the decree appointing the current board of directors, and the restrictions that this imposes, so that the board joins many parties in the country that suffer due to the lack of confirmation of the leaders in charge of it, or the filling of some mandated positions and inability to fill vacant positions.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ambassador Jassim Al-Mubaraki, said that the decree of the current board, consisting of 11 members, including the president, last September 16, and a new board of directors has not yet been appointed, which requires the outgoing board to work within the framework of urgent matters only.
Al-Mubaraki told Al-Qabas daily that the work is currently taking place in the narrowest scope, as it is illogical to expand business or projects and oblige the new council to do so, indicating that the new budget, which is supposed to start work after the end of the current budget on March 31, has yet to be put in place.
He pointed out that the problem of expiring the decree increases the size of the problems that the Bureau suffers from, foremost of which is the existence of shortcomings in the law of its establishment, which is not in accordance with the Paris principles, the most important of which is financial and administrative independence, in addition to the insufficient budget, especially the allocations for training despite the importance of this role.
Regarding his meeting with a delegation from the World Bank that is currently visiting the country, Al-Mubaraki said that the meeting focused on cooperation and coordination on the International Development Report, which is issued by the Bank on migrant labor and the human dimensions related to it.
He pointed out that the bank’s demands centered around a number of main items, which is the need for a mechanism to follow up on the implementation of charters and laws related to expatriate workers and preserve their dignity, and not to confiscate their identification papers by employers, as well as the existence of an annual report on the conditions of these workers in Kuwait, with focus on the principle of accountability and responsibility.