' Bahraini labour legislation, policies meet global acclaim'

Manama, Apr. 30 (BNA): Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah bin Faisal bin Jabur Al Doseri, praised the achievements of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the protection of workers' rights. He said the Kingdom provides an integrated system to protect the rights of the worker and the employer alike and to ensure the employee's right to training and development. This came on the International Workers' Day, which falls on May 1 of each year, which was seized by the assistant Foreign Minister to wish all the workers in the Kingdom of Bahrain more success and prosperity. He stressed the importance of the role of Bahraini workers in building the country's economy and promoting it to the highest rates of global growth under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The Assistant Foreign Minister pointed out that the Kingdom is implementing advanced legislation to protect workers’ rights, including Labor Law 36 of 2012, and its safeguards on the workers’ enjoyment of rights and privileges in accordance with international human rights standards. This, he explained, is in light of the Kingdom's accession to the International Covenant regarding civil, political, economic and cultural rights and ILO fundamental Conventions guaranteeing the rights of the individual to free choice of employment, equitable and equal remuneration, enjoyment of leave and allowances and the creation of safe working conditions to ensure occupational safety and health. The Constitution and the Bahraini law prohibit all forms of discrimination in the working environment, he said, citing Article 16 (b) which states that the citizens take up public office in accordance with the conditions prescribed by law and Article 39 of the Labor Law in the private sector which prohibits discrimination in wages on the basis of race, origin, language, religion or creed" He added that Efforts to ensure the Bahraini worker's right were not limited to legislation but also include policies and programs aimed at improving the standards of living, such as the project to improve national private sector workers’ wages within the framework of a set of rules. "Recognizing the importance of the role of civil society associations and organizations, including trade unions in supporting workers' demands in continuing efforts to achieve better working conditions, the Kingdom of Bahrain has provided broad space for trade unions to act by promulgating Decree- Law 33 of 2002 on the Trade Unions Law and its amendments which paved the way for trade union pluralism. "The Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the leading countries in labor market reformation and protection of the rights of workers, namely the flexible work permit which is one of the best international practices which was praised by many countries of the world at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. "The Kingdom has recently launched several measures to strengthen anti-trafficking measures, including those on dealing with cases of trafficking or suspected trafficking, and facilitation of categorization of workers' complaints to make sure whether they fall under labor or trafficking violations. It also checks whether violations should be dealt with by the Ministry of the Interior, the Labor Market Regulatory Authority, the Public Prosecution or the labor courts without closing the file until all legal and administrative procedures have been completed, " said the Assistant Foreign Minister. He affirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain is continuing the process of comprehensive development and awakening under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to achieve further growth and prosperity for the homeland and the loyal people and thus continues to adopt advanced development plans and policies. He said the Kingdom is doing this for the sake of sustainable development in all industrial, commercial, financial and human sectors in order to create an ideal working environment for Bahraini workers and ensure sustainability for future generations.