Head of the expatriate manpower office at Kuwait Labour Union Abdulrahman Al- Ghanem said the measure will be a black page in Kuwait’s human rights record, while former MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji said deporting expats for traffic offenses is illegal.
The two were commenting on statements by interior ministry assistant undersecretary for traffic affairs Maj Gen Abdulfattah Al-Ali that 213 expatriates have been deported during the past few days for committing grave traffic violations.
The violations included driving without a driver’s license, running the red traffic light for a second time, using private vehicles to carry passengers and exceeding speed limits by 40 km, said Ali, adding that he has received instructions from the interior minister to apply the traffic law strictly.
Ghanem however said that the implementation of the threat to deport 100,000 expats every year over the next 10 years and deporting expat drivers like criminals “will never be forgotten by their peoples”.
Ghanem said in a statement that deporting expats randomly will have far-reaching economic and social consequences. He said that authorities have failed to curb visa traders who recruited thousands of expatriates for money and as the ministry failed to punish those visa traders, it is now penalizing expatriates. He said the ministry has squarely put the blame on expatriates for the demographic imbalances and resorted to oppressive measures against them.
He also strongly criticized humiliating expatriates and using inhuman methods against them. Ghanem expressed outrage over deporting expatriates for committing traffic offenses, insisting that the traffic law that is applicable to all and should be applied to expats through fines or withdrawing their driver’s licenses and not deporting them.
He rejected correcting a mistake with a bigger one, adding that “deportation” is a simple word but has great economic and social effects.
This contradicts the basics of human rights and deals with expatriates as if they are not humans who commit mistakes or violations, Ghanem said. Turaiji, a former senior interior ministry official, said on his Twitter account that there is no clause in the traffic law that allows for the deportation of expatriates. “If an expatriate is deported over a traffic offense, this will be considered as a violation of the law,” Turaiji said.
MP Khaled Hussein Al- Shatti also urged the government not to mistreat expats and clearly explain how it plans to carry out its strategy to annually deport 100,000 expats. “We are totally with adjusting the imbalance in our population, deporting marginal unnecessary labor and fighting visa traffickers.
I strongly support law enforcement on whoever violates the state’s laws, yet at the same time am against arbitrarily tightening the screws on expats,” he said, expressing his full rejection of “insulting” expats by deporting them. “Laws must be applied in compliance with international human rights and values,” he emphasized.
Shatti agreed on measures to reduce the number of marginal laborers who have no work or jobs in Kuwait, provided this is done legally and in a civilized manner. “Expats have outstanding roles in various fields in Kuwait,” he said, expressing his wish that annually deporting 100,000 expats will not be done arbitrarily and become a black spot in Kuwait’s human rights record.
Shatti expressed surprise over deporting expats for committing traffic violations and stressed that this step might open the way wide for wasta, favoritism and abuse of powers in violation of basic human rights. In another development, the National Assembly yesterday passed a law calling to establish a Public Food Authority that will control the food sector, especially combating imports of expired foodstuff.
The Assembly also approved another law to amend the commercial licences legislation issued more than 40 years ago and Commerce and Industry Minister Anas Al- Saleh said the law will be implemented in less than three months to end red tape in issuing commercial licences.
