Categories
-Top News UAE News

UAE presents labour market legislations to Human Rights Council

Al Awadhi pointed out the UAE’s “advanced technological infrastructure, which contributed to developing online and smart systems used in inspections and proactive monitoring.”…reports Asian Lite News

The UAE presented to the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) its legislative ecosystem, which regulates the local labour market, provides social security and ensures decent working conditions to UAE workers in line with the Paris Principles.

Several UAE federal and local government entities as well as civil society organisations constituted the delegation for the country’s fourth Human Rights Report at HRC in Geneva. “In the past few years, the UAE has updated its legislations governing private sector employment relationships. A transparent contractual policy for workers in the UAE was developed and implemented, in which it holds recruitment agencies responsible for informing foreign workers of their employment rights, terms and conditions before leaving their countries,” Shayma Al Awadhi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Communication and International Relations at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) said.

“It has also been prohibited charging these workers any recruitment fees and dealing with any unlicenced recruitment agencies or agents in the UAE or abroad.”

“The new labour legislations include clear legal provisions that define and prohibit discrimination on all grounds as defined in international conventions. The legislations also ban any form of violence against workers as well as sexual harassment in the workplace; granting them the right to immediately terminate their employment relationship without compromising their rights if they were violated,” she added.

“MoHRE has provided workers across all professional levels with multiple channels to submit legal inquiries and receive their complaints in more than 20 languages. Support is provided to workers, alongside reconciliation with employers to settle disputes amicably; if such settlements were not possible, they would be referred to the judiciary.”

Al Awadhi pointed out the UAE’s “advanced technological infrastructure, which contributed to developing online and smart systems used in inspections and proactive monitoring.”

“These include a system that recognises risk factors through which priority is given to inspecting high-risk establishments, as well as the Wages Protection System (WPS), which supports the financial stability and mental wellbeing of workers and their families,” she said.

“MoHRE is responsible for examining the compliance of private sector establishments and their workers’ accomodations with the conditions set by legislation that guarantees the rights of workers to decent working conditions and housing.

“We have also introduced an Unemployment Insurance Scheme, which covers workers in the UAE – citizens and residents alike. The Scheme provides a temporary financial income for those who lost their jobs according to specific conditions.

“Another insurance system has also been developed for workers’ unpaid remunerations, including late wages and compensation for work injuries.” (ANI/WAM)

ALSO READ-UAE leads global rankings in energy, water, infra

Categories
-Top News India News

India re-elected to UN Human Rights Council

A total of 18 seats were up for election this year under the system of rotating membership with three-year terms on the 47-member Council…reports Arul Louis

 India was re-elected to the Human Rights Council on Thursday for another three-year term, starting next year with a pledge to “to bring its pluralistic, moderate and balanced perspective to straddle various divides or differences in the Council”.

India received 184 of the 193 votes cast in the election.

India’s manifesto for the election emphasised that the promotion and protection of human rights were best served by “dialogue, cooperation and constructive and collaborative engagement”.

A total of 18 seats were up for election this year under the system of rotating membership with three-year terms on the 47-member Council.

The Asia group of countries unanimously endorsed India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates for the five seats for the region that were up for election this year ensuring their unopposed election.

Despite the unanimity, two spoiler votes were cast – one each for Fiji and the Maldives.

The other regional ballots were five for Africa, three each for the two groups, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western and Other Countries, and two for Eastern Europe. They were also non-competitive as the various groups had endorsed only as many countries as there were vacancies.

The US, which rejoined the Council this year after President Joe Biden assumed office, contested the election and was elected, but with only 168 votes, the lowest number of votes of the 18 countries.

Former President Donald Trump had withdrawn the US from the Council in 2018 criticising it for having serious human rights violators like China, Cuba and Venezuela as members and for what he called its “anti-Israel” stance.

The Secretary of State had said that Washington’s withdrawal had created a vacuum on the Council that authoritarian countries had taken advantage of and to redress this, the US “must be at the table using the full weight of our diplomatic leadership”.

This year’s elections were non-controversial as none of those three countries — or others liable to stir controversies — were on the ballot.

Bangladesh, which will complete two consecutive terms at the end of this year, was not eligible for reelection.

Pakistan, China and Nepal are also currently on the Council with terms running till 2023.

India was elected in 2018 to the current term that began in 2019 and after its election this time it will not be able to seek re-election in 2024 because the rules do not allow a country to serve more than two consecutive terms.

It was among the first batch of 47 countries elected to the Council in 2006 soon after it was set up and received an initial one-year term instead of three to facilitate a rotating roster of vacancies each year.

It was again elected in 2007, 2011 and 2014 to three-year terms.

In its manifesto for the re-election, India said: “The promotion and protection of human rights is essential to achieving the goal of socio-economic advancement of humanity in its entirety.”

It said: “India’s desire to serve as a member of the Human Rights Council is rooted in its belief that States members of the Council have a unique opportunity and responsibility to work towards the global advancement of human rights.”

The manifesto spoke at length about buttressing human rights through action in the socio-economic arenas like building back better from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The right to free speech and expression occupies its rightful place in the core of the Constitution. As the world’s largest, multi-layered democracy, India fully recognises the importance of free speech and expression. The Supreme Court and other courts in India, through their judicial pronouncements, have significantly expanded the scope of the right to freedom of speech and expression by including other rights, such as the right to freedom of the press, the right to information and even the right to remain silent within its purview.”

It contained a 23-point pledge that included continued cooperation “with treaty monitoring bodies and engage constructively with them in the context of fulfilling its human rights obligations”, support to “the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including through regular voluntary contributions, and acceptance of “requests for visits

ALSO READ: Taliban a gambit in Pakistan’s proxy war in India?