After the Kuwaiti government has expressed interest in outsourcing domestic workers from Ghana and as of late last year, ironed out a new contract system for domestic helpers coming from the Philippines, the Arab nation is now looking to further expand their labour resources to other Asian nations in the field of domestic work.
Amid the regulatory work the government is imposing on its labour force right now, particularly involving expats, domestic workers remain the highest expat work sector in the country at 660,000 foreign domestic workers (ILO, 2015).
Kuwait and India Seal Agreement on Employment of Domestic Helpers
In line with this, the Indian Cabinet officially signed a labour pact last January 23 for the authorization of recruitment of domestic workers between India and Kuwait, as shared in a report by Kuwait Times.
The labour agreement outlines a structured framework for cooperation on domestic worker-related matters and details strengthened safeguards for Indian domestic workers including female migrant workers in the country.
The pact is initially intended to take effect for a period of five years and includes a provision for automatic renewal. A joint committee will be organized to oversee and follow up the implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), which will also ensure bilateral cooperation in domestic worker-related matters between the two countries.
This development has been considered to protect migrant workers deployed in the Gulf State following precedents of worker abuse and injustice that have somehow marred the image of Kuwait as a place of employment for migrant workers from other countries in the past.
Hopefully, these specifications in the memorandum of understanding submitted by partner nations such as India and the Philippines will be followed through and be established as a norm of labour standards in the country in order to promote a culture of sustainable work conditions for expats, particularly female migrant workers interested to work in Kuwait from this point on.