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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Who protects migrant workers?
By Fatemah FaragIt's a fact. Egypt is rich in human resources but does not know what to do with all its unskilled labour. For years, migration, especially to other Arab countries, was a convenient solution. Recent figures released by the Ministry of Manpower and Training indicate that over two million Egyptians are working abroad, including 1.3 million in Arab Gulf countries. The foreign currency remittances they send home amount to $4 billion annually.
However, only those who have suffered the harsh conditions of foreign labour, where their only asset is back-breaking hard work for the cheapest possible wage, know the true cost of such "solutions". The recent outbreak of violence in Kuwait involving Egyptians brought that cost into sharp focus.
Consequently, this week's meetings between the Minister of Manpower and Training Ahmed El-Amawi and his Kuwaiti counterpart, Abdel-Wahab Al-Wazzan, were of utmost importance. According to statements made by the two ministers, an agreement has been reached between Egypt and Kuwait on new arrangements to organise the migration of Egyptian labour to Kuwait.
To date, information released on the particulars of the deliberations has been vague. Al-Wazzan said his government was very concerned with the violence that broke out in Ghitan, underlying that last month's incident was the first of its kind and that the Kuwaiti judiciary was investigating the files of 19 detained Egyptians. He said his government was keen on providing Egyptian workers in both private and public sectors with proper wages, housing and health facilities as well as travel mobility.
Kuwait is host to some 270,000 Egyptian workers and the talks centred on problems faced by these workers, including the visa black market and the kafeel, or sponsor system. The preliminary agreement reached by both sides stipulates that the government of Kuwait would address and resolve all problems facing Egyptian labour while the labour attaché at the Egyptian Embassy would ensure that only the skilled labour needed by Kuwaitis would be allowed entry to the country.
The agreement is only one example of the Ministry of Manpower's strategy to address deep-rooted and unresolved issues --particularly the negotiation of bilateral agreements with countries hosting large numbers of Egyptian workers. Countries targeted for such agreements are Saudi Arabia, which employs between 700,000 to 900,000 Egyptians), Qatar (25,000), the United Arab Emirates (110,000), Libya, Lebanon and Jordan.
Part of the dilemma is that jobs are no longer available on the scale they used to be. According to a recent report by the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), Egyptian labour has shrunk in countries such as Saudi Arabia -- where the figure used to be over one million. Falling oil prices and the policy of many Gulf countries to make job opportunities indigenous -- as well as the consequences of the 1991 Gulf War -- are factors that contributed to a tightening of the Egyptian labour market in the Gulf.
The pressures on Egyptian workers obviously cannot be solved by bilateral agreements alone. Hence, the parallel policy of the Ministry of Manpower to diversify and expand job opportunities beyond the so-called "traditional" markets. This has entailed efforts to open up markets for Egyptian employment in Africa, particularly in the Community of East and South Africa (COMESA) countries, and as far away as Australia.
