UAE takes action on Rights issues

Abu Dhabi: The UAE Government has already taken action to deal with many of the issues raised by Human Rights Watch, the Minister of Labour, Dr Ali Abdullah Al Ka'abi said.

In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, Al Ka'abi acknowledged that there were abuses of the existing Labour Law.

"There are laws and regulations, but you cannot catch everyone in this country who abuses labourers," he said. "[But] when we find abuse, we don't hesitate to take action, either at the ministry level or through the court system."

Insufficient

The introduction of a new system of courts specifically to deal with labour issues, he said, 'will help a lot.' The minister also said that in the past, his ministry had only 80 labour inspectors, an insufficient number to carry out all the inspections that were required.

"Our laws are tougher than those in the Middle East," he said, "but the lack of inspectors means we don't see these problems." Now, he said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had ordered that a special directorate with 2,000 inspectors should be established to facilitate more inspections.

Al Ka'abi disputed allegations by HRW that companies which were in breach of existing legislation were not being penalised.

'Dozens' of companies were fined in July and August this year alone for failing to abide by government rules that outdoor construction work should be halted during the hottest hours of the day while one well-connected construction company which had not paid its workers on time had been ordered to cease operations for a six month period.

In a separate interview with WAM, the labour minister said that his ministry paid close attention to health and safety issues, and that the increase in the number of labour inspectors would enable the ministry to tackle these issues more effectively.

"By law, all employers are obliged to report any cases of death or injury to the Ministry of Labour and to other relevant bodies," he said.

"But we know that there are malpractices and that many employers do not abide by the law. Together with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior we are working to monitor health and safety issues more effectively and to collect statistics on all incidents of deaths and injury involving employees. Those employers found to be concealing information and to be permitting unsafe practices will be severely penalised, in accordance with the terms of the law."