A slave trade is rising in Kuwait with fake offices circumventing the law and providing domestic workers at monthly amounts of up to KD 400 dinars, Al Rai reported. These illegal offices are taking advantage of the lack of availability of new domestic workers and the families’ need for household help by imposing a recruitment fees in addition to the salary of the worker.
According to statistics, 30,000 residency visa transfers were registered for domestic workers during the coronavirus crisis, with fake offices exploiting around 60,000 domestic workers in violation of the law, most of whom are females.
The domestic worker crisis is worsening day after day, due to the closure of the Kuwait airport, which prevents further recruitment, against the background of the coronavirus pandemic and the suspension of activity of licensed domestic workers offices. The daily said, quoting informed sources revealed that some fake offices are exploiting the current situation to operate with impunity to the law and there are increasing suspicions of human trafficking in these offices.
These offices demands any citizen who wants a domestic worker to accept her according to a monthly wage system, so that the worker receives her salary (ranging between KD 100 and KD 120 dinars), while the office receives an amount between KD 150 and KD 200 dinars, according to the agreement between the two parties. This costs the head of the family an amount in some cases, up to KD 320 dinars per month for the worker and the office. The daily reported that some of these offices exploit the illegal workers for employment and maximum benefit, in light of the suspension of recruitment and the Kuwaiti families ’need for domestic workers.
In a related context, some owners of domestic workers’ offices revealed to Al-Rai daily that “some contracting companies circumvent the law, taking advantage of the building-cleaning license permit they obtained by providing domestic workers with a salary of KD 450 dinars per month.
While some domestic workers ‘offices advertisements are announcing daily and monthly domestic workers, the head of the Union of Owners of Domestic Workers’ Recruitment Agencies, Khaled Al-Dakhnan, warned that all the offices currently advertising temporary domestic workers are fake offices operating illegally, stressing that their business is not authorized and not permitted under the law.
Highlighting that it is unfortunate that citizens are forced to seek illegal domestic workers due to the current stifling conditions, Al-Dakhnan urged people not to deal with these offices that violate the law because they facilitate the employment of domestic workers who may be sick or carry diseases, and may commit crimes and flee,” noting that his office will continue to raise awareness and advise against dealing with illegal domestic workers.
He added, “Whoever participates in sheltering runaway domestic workers is at risk for punishment and is a partner in this illegal behavior, and we, in turn, report first-hand about these fake offices, because the allowing domestic workers to Kuwaiti homes may cause problems, in particular the spreading of infectious diseases, and is considered participation in an illegal act.”
In the meantime, Bassam Al-Shammari, the owner of one of the domestic workers’ offices, revealed to Al-Rai that “some contracting companies that have a building cleaning license are manipulating and circumventing the law and providing their workers as domestic workers and charging amounts of up to KD 450 dinars per month for each worker for working only eight hours a day, ”noting that“ this illegal behavior generates hundreds of thousands of dinars per month for the illegal company. ”
He noted that the domestic worker does not have a health certificate, unlike those employed in legal domestic workers’ offices whose work is currently suspended, which raises the question about what guarantees that the domestic workers of contracting companies are free of diseases and not carrying the coronavirus? Especially since they enter homes and are entrusted to care for the elderly and children.”
Noting that many female secretarial workers in contracting companies expressed their desire to work as domestic workers, he said that it is due to high salary in light of the current coronavirus crisis that affected even the government jobs of Kuwaiti male and female employees because they had home duties to perform, including online education that requires the guardian to sit beside children for hours while they study.”
Al-Shammari concluded that “the cost of temporary domestic workers have hiked up to the point they are charging KD 50 dinars for two-hour work, while the official licensed offices are standing idly by and unable to conduct their business.”
In a related context, informed security sources revealed to the local daily that the total number of domestic workers in the country is about 670,000, both females and males, however, because of the coronavirus pandemic, and many domestic workers who traveled outside the country, some of them were unable to return to Kuwait as their residency visa expired, and was not renewed or they do not want to return to Kuwait to take up their jobs again leading to the worsening of the domestic workers crisis.
The sources said that the total number of domestic workers in violation of the law, was nearly 60,000, the majority were females, and after the entry visa and visa renewals were suspended due to the coronavirus crisis, many owners of fake offices resorted to employing a number of domestic workers with large salaries of up to KD 250 dinars per month, and perhaps more.
Earlier, the salaries of domestic workers did not exceed KD 180 dinars, and the majority of these domestic workers returned to their country or violated the residency visa law or escaped from their sponsors, which started a furor in the domestic labor market among citizens looking for a domestic worker through online advertising sites or offices selling domestic workers an exorbitant amount of KD 3000 dinars. Hence, nearly 30,000 housemaids had their visas transferred during the pandemic period, either through being reassigned to another sponsor and paying fees for visas or taking advantage of the sale of visas in exchange for huge sums.
