Strict measures to be taken against illegal visa traders

February 10, 2013

Adel-Fakeih

Jeddah, Feb 10: The Ministry of Labor has stepped up its efforts to contain the menace of illegal visa trading in the Kingdom with the help of foreign consultancy companies.

“The ministry is currently seeking the cooperation of international consultancy companies to conduct field studies on the labor contracting systems in seven major labor supplying countries,” Minister of Labor Adel Al-Fakeih said in a statement to a local newspaper.

The ministry does not want any loopholes or ambiguity in the laws that could be exploited for illegal recruitment practices, the minister added.

The ministry has banned all kinds of activities that could lead to trading in manpower including selling visas, taking money to facilitate entry or exit visas, getting iqamas or labor permits.

“Those who engage in illegal visa trading will not be allowed to import labor for a duration of five years and those who repeat the violation will never be issued a visa for labor recruitment again,” Fakeih said.

The ministry is also taking steps to ensure maximum transparency in matters pertaining to issuing visas and recruiting foreign labor. One such step the ministry is taking includes setting up a portal, in which contracting parties and embassies can track the processing of a labor visa from the moment it is issued until the completion of the contract agreement with workers, including the salary agreement upon.

“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved the appointment of 1,000 additional inspectors in the ministry. The Interior Ministry is collaborating with the Labor Ministry to set up a committee to halt the illegal trade of foreign workers. Saudization committees will also be reactivated for the same purpose. All these efforts will produce remarkable results in ending the illegal trade in the near future,” the minister added.

He said regulations such as the ones designed to curb commercial cover-ups and to limit the remittance of expatriate workers to the salaries stated in their contracts, aim to reduce the drain on the national economy.

Affirming the success of the ministry in providing employment opportunities for the Saudi youth the minister said, “The Nitaqat program has succeeded in employing 514,659 young men and women since it was implemented in June 2011.”

The country’s statistical department revealed that unemployment among men fell to 6.1 percent in 2012.

In addition, the minister highlighted that measures have been taken to prevent any kind of foul play in the implementation of the Nitaqat program. These measures include the ministry’s insistence that the lowest salary for a Saudi should be SR 3,000 and a student employed in the private sector would not be considered as a full employee.

The minister also stressed the ministry’s determination to continue its efforts to find more employment opportunities for women in the private sector.

“There is no turning back on the policy to employ women. We are striving to rectify mistakes and are striving to ensure that regulations are soundly implementation. The government’s orders and regulations are in line with Shariah law,” the minister said in response to objections from some members of the community about employing women.

The minister also affirmed the ministry’s strong stand against any criticism with regards to the recently introduced expatriate levy. He pointed out that the levy will not harm the private sector, but rather aims to regulate and improve the labor market.

“There are many countries that raise the cost of employing foreign workers in order to protect the local workforce. The labor levy in some countries is 10 times higher than the monthly SR 200 in the Kingdom,” he said justifying the ministry’s decision.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 4,2024

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Hundreds of Israeli settlers conducted a brutal attack in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

The settlers set fire to numerous homes and vehicles of Palestinians and then moved to the main road connecting Ramallah to other cities, targeting Palestinian cars passing by.

They stormed the city of al-Bireh, near Ramallah, and burned Palestinian property and vehicles.

A woman sustained injuries after the settlers hurled stones at her vehicle, according to Palestinian news outlets.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank because of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 43,341 people, mostly women and children, since last year’s October.

The Monday settler attack came as the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas warned of Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank and drive Palestinians out.

“We warn of the grave danger posed by the plans led by the extremist occupation regime and illegal settler groups to displace the residents of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank,” Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said.

Israel's far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the full annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last week.

Smotrich asserted that Israel should unequivocally declare there would be no Palestinian state.

He repeated his proposal of expanding Israeli settlements within the West Bank and other occupied territories.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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