Mishal Al-Otaibi Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has said a recent extensive campaign against expatriate workers who violate the residency law should have been implemented with more consideration. The campaign reportedly disrupted the labor market and many employers have had to halt all business activities, while some closed down or liquidated their businesses. Embassies of different countries called for a grace period so that their citizens correct their status. The NSHR had been swamped with grievances and complaints and as a result it sent some teams to measure the effects of this campaign. NSHR chairman Dr. Mufleh Al-Qahtani presented the NSHR members with a detailed report during a meeting recently in Riyadh that discussed the objectives of the decision as well as the positive and negative results and suggested some recommendations. He said the objectives of the campaign was to create job opportunities for Saudis and correct the residency status of expatriates who do not work for their sponsors According to the NSHR, an enormous number of citizens and op-ed writers support the decision and believed it would contribute to creating job opportunities for young Saudis. However, lawyers and economic experts believed that the implementation of the campaign without giving violators a chance to correct their status would certainly inflict great damage on consumers and small businesses and disrupt many contract projects. The NSHR said the campaign had positive results, including tightening regulation of the labor market and reducing security, social, and economic risks, allowing private-sector businesses with good Saudization levels to transfer the sponsorship of expatriates with expired residency permits without having to obtain the approval of the former sponsors, and creating job opportunities for Saudis. However, said the NSHR, there were some disadvantages, including the fact that some government projects got delayed while construction costs increased; the three-month grace period was not sufficient to correct the status of all expatriate workers violating residency laws; concerned authorities were not working as fast as they should to finalize procedures to correct the status of affected workers; and an increase in the labor wages. The campaign also prevented many expatriate workers who were caught violating the residency law from obtaining their rights and there were not enough places and spaces for detained violators. Current facilities have also not been prepared to receive such a huge number of violators and, therefore, the minimum requirement of human rights was not met, said the society. The NSHR emphasized the Kingdom's right to deport any expatriate worker violating the laws. It recommended that procedures of sponsorship transference should be better facilitated; the performance of recruitment companies should be monitored to ensure that these companies bring over workers to various and different sectors on appropriate wages; and the sponsorship system should be abolished while the relationship between employer and employee should be defined according to an employment contract.
